The Investment Company Institute's latest "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows MMF assets inching lower ahead of the June 15 quarterly tax payment date, after hitting records for 7 straight weeks (and 13 weeks out of the past 15). Once the June weakness (quarter-end is normally weak too) passes though, we expect the asset tear to resume. Assets have risen by $632 billion, or 13.1%, over the past 16 weeks, broking the $5.4 billion barrier two weeks ago. ICI shows assets up by $717 billion, or 15.1%, year-to-date in 2023, with Institutional MMFs up $407 billion, or 13.3% and Retail MMFs up $310 billion, or 18.5%. Over the past 52 weeks, money fund assets have risen $911 billion, or 20.1%, with Retail MMFs rising by $553 billion (38.6%) and Inst MMFs rising by $358 billion (11.5%). (According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have risen by $31.1 billion to $5.857 trillion. 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.)
Their weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets decreased by $4.66 billion to $5.45 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, June 14, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds decreased by $8.26 billion and prime funds increased by $5.38 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $1.78 billion." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs dipping $8.5 billion but Retail MMFs rising $3.8 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $4.520 trillion (82.9% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $818.4 billion (15.0%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $113.4 billion (2.1%).
ICI explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $3.80 billion to $1.99 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $978 million to $1.33 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $3.99 billion to $550.31 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $1.17 billion to $102.76 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 36.4%, and Government Retail assets make up 67.1% of all Retail MMFs.
They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $8.46 billion to $3.46 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $9.24 billion to $3.19 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $1.39 billion to $268.11 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $612 million to $10.67 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 63.6% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 92.0% of all Institutional MMF totals.
ICI also released its latest monthly "Money Market Fund Holdings" summary, which reviews the aggregate daily and weekly liquid assets, regional exposure, and maturities (WAM and WAL) for Prime and Government money market funds. This release says, "The Investment Company Institute (ICI) reports that, as of the final Friday in May, prime money market funds held 47.1 percent of their portfolios in daily liquid assets and 61.5 percent in weekly liquid assets, while government money market funds held 78.0 percent of their portfolios in daily liquid assets and 84.6 percent in weekly liquid assets." Prime DLA was up from 44.5% in April, and Prime WLA was down from 61.9%. Govt MMFs' DLA was down from 81.6% and Govt WLA decreased from 88.3% the previous month.
ICI explains, "At the end of May, prime funds had a weighted average maturity (WAM) of 19 days and a weighted average life (WAL) of 46 days. Average WAMs and WALs are asset-weighted. Government money market funds had a WAM of 21 days and a WAL of 63 days." Prime WAMs and WALs were both 1 day longer from the previous month. Govt WAMs were 4 days longer and WALs were 4 days longer from April.
Regarding Holdings by Region of Issuer, the release tells us, "Prime money market funds' holdings attributable to the Americas declined from $404.07 billion in April to $403.71 billion in May. Government money market funds’ holdings attributable to the Americas rose from $4,079.75 billion in April to $4,114.34 billion in May."
The Prime Money Market Funds by Region of Issuer table shows Americas-related holdings at $403.7 billion, or 51.1%; Asia and Pacific at $116.8 billion, or 14.8%; Europe at $256.0 billion, or 32.4%; and, Other (including Supranational) at $14.2 billion, or 1.9%. The Government Money Market Funds by Region of Issuer table shows Americas at $4.114 trillion, or 91.7%; Asia and Pacific at $94.0 billion, or 2.1%; Europe at $266.6 billion, 5.9%, and Other (Including Supranational) at $10.0 billion, or 0.2%.
Finally, a third release from the Investment Company Institute tells us that, "Retirement Assets Total $35.4 Trillion in First Quarter 2023." It includes data tables showing that money market funds held in retirement accounts rose to $632 billion (from $602 billion) in total, or 12% of the total $5.238 trillion in money funds. MMFs represent just 5.9% of the total $10.690 trillion of mutual funds in retirement accounts.
This release says, "Total US retirement assets were $35.4 trillion as of March 31, 2023, up 3.5 percent from December 31, 2022. Retirement assets accounted for 31 percent of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of March 2023. Assets in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) totaled $12.5 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 4.3 percent from the end of the fourth quarter of 2022. Defined contribution (DC) plan assets were $9.8 trillion at the end of the first quarter, up 5.0 percent from December 31, 2022. Government defined benefit (DB) plans -- including federal, state, and local government plans -- held $7.7 trillion in assets as of the end of March 2023, a 0.5 percent increase from the end of December 2022. Private-sector DB plans held $3.2 trillion in assets at the end of the first quarter of 2023, and annuity reserves outside of retirement accounts accounted for another $2.2 trillion."
The ICI tables also show money funds accounting for $451 billion, or 9%, of the $5.244 trillion in IRA mutual fund assets and $181 billion, or 3%, of the $5.446 trillion in defined contribution plan holdings. (Money funds in 401k plans totaled $122 billion, or 3% of the $4.299 trillion of mutual funds in 401k's.)
