Still Going: MMFs Hit Another Record
The ICI's "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows MMFs hitting record levels yet again this week after breaking above the $5.3 trillion level for the first time ever last week. Assets have risen by $507.7 billion, or 10.5%, over the past 11 weeks! ICI shows assets up by $593 billion, or 12.5%, year-to-date in 2023, with Institutional MMFs up $333 billion, or 10.9% and Retail MMFs up $260 billion, or 15.5%. Over the past 52 weeks, money fund assets have risen $827 billion, or 18.4%, with Retail MMFs rising by $530 billion (37.6%) and Inst MMFs rising by $297 billion (9.6%). (According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets broke the $5.7 trillion barrier last week and hit a record $5.749 billion on Tuesday, 5/9 before dipping $7.1 billion Wednesday. Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're over $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.) The weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $18.33 billion to $5.33 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, May 10, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $9.35 billion and prime funds increased by $6.86 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $2.12 billion." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs rising $6.1 billion and Retail MMFs rising $12.3 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $4.430 trillion (83.1% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $785.2 billion (14.7%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $112.9 billion (2.1%). ICI explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $12.25 billion to $1.94 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $4.65 billion to $1.31 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $5.12 billion to $525.27 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $2.48 billion to $102.13 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 36.4%, and Government Retail assets make up 67.6% of all Retail MMFs. They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $6.07 billion to $3.39 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $4.70 billion to $3.12 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $1.74 billion to $259.91 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $365 million to $10.74 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 63.6% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 92.0% of all Institutional MMF totals.
