Money Market News
ICI's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets falling $9.6 billion to $6.914 trillion, after rising $5.5 billion to a record $6.923 trillion the week prior and rising $44.9 billion two weeks prior. Money fund assets have risen in 20 of the last 29, and 31 of the last 44, weeks, increasing by $610.1 billion (or 9.7%) since the Fed cut on 9/18/24 and increasing by $936.2 billion (or 15.7%) since 4/24/24. MMF assets are up by $905 billion, or 15.1%, in the past 52 weeks (through 2/19/25), with Institutional MMFs up $475 billion, or 13.0% and Retail MMFs up $430 billion, or 18.2%. Year-to-date, MMF assets are up by $63 billion, or 0.9%, with Institutional MMFs up $2 billion, or 0.0% and Retail MMFs up $61 billion, or 2.2%. (Note: Register soon for our upcoming Bond Fund Symposium, which is March 27-28 in Newport Beach, Calif!)
Crane Data published its latest Weekly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics Tuesday, which track a shifting subset of our monthly Portfolio Holdings collection. The most recent cut (with data as of Feb. 14) includes Holdings information from 62 money funds (up 15 from two weeks ago), or $3.585 trillion (up from $2.901 trillion) of the $7.213 trillion in total money fund assets (or 49.7%) tracked by Crane Data. (Note: Our Weekly MFPH are e-mail only and aren't available on the website. See our latest Monthly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings here and our Feb. 12 News, "Feb. Money Fund Portfolio Holdings: Treasuries Higher, Fed Repo Plunges.")
Earlier this month, the ICI published a "Viewpoint" titled, "Sold Under False Pretenses: The SEC's Money Market Fund Reform is Causing Damage," which explains, "In response to pandemic-induced stress in money markets three years earlier, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted rule amendments in July 2023 that required significant changes to prime money market funds (MMFs). While strengthening the resiliency of MMFs was a worthy objective, the Commission adopted these amendments without seeking public input on specific elements of the amendments' most consequential change: the imposition of a first-ever mandatory liquidity fee on prime institutional funds. MMFs serve as an attractive cash management option and have surged in popularity as investors have taken advantage of higher yields in recent years. But the prime institutional segment of the MMF market has experienced significant consolidation and reduced competition as a direct consequence of the SEC's flawed rule amendments." (Note: Register soon for our upcoming Bond Fund Symposium, which is March 27-28 in Newport Beach, Calif!)
Crane Data's latest Money Fund Intelligence International shows that assets in European or "offshore" money market mutual funds moved higher again over the past 30 days to a record $1.483 trillion, while yields moved lower. Assets for EUR and GBP rose over the past month while USD inched down. Like U.S. money fund assets, European MMFs have repeatedly hit record highs in 2023, 2024 and early in 2025. These U.S.-style money funds, domiciled in Ireland or Luxembourg and denominated in US Dollars, Pound Sterling and Euros, increased by $20.4 billion over the 30 days through 2/13. The totals are up $50.7 billion (3.5%) year-to-date for 2025, they were up $235.3 billion (19.7%) for 2024 and up $166.9 billion (16.2%) for the year 2023. (Note that currency moves in the U.S. dollar cause Euro and Sterling totals to shift when they're translated back into totals in U.S. dollars. See our latest MFI International for more on the "offshore" money fund marketplace. These funds are only available to qualified, non-U.S. investors and are almost entirely institutional.)
The February issue of our Bond Fund Intelligence, which was sent to subscribers Friday morning, features the stories, "Debate Over Bond Funds vs. Cash Continues, Heats Up," which features recent stories pushing bond funds over cash, and "Federated Hermes' Ostrowski on Volatility & Vigilantes," which excerpts from a recent Insight piece. BFI also recaps the latest Bond Fund News and includes our Crane BFI Indexes, which show that bond fund returns rebounding in January while yields were slightly lower. We excerpt from the new issue below. (Contact us if you'd like to see our latest Bond Fund Intelligence and BFI XLS spreadsheet, or our Bond Fund Portfolio Holdings data, and join us for our upcoming Bond Fund Symposium, which is March 27-28 in Newport Beach, Calif.)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published its latest monthly "Money Market Fund Statistics" summary earlier this month (the stats were delayed last month), which shows that total money fund assets rose by $113.2 billion in December 2024 to a record $7.238 trillion. Assets jumped $197.8 billion in November, $93.3 billion in October and $166.6 billion in September 2024. The SEC shows Prime MMFs increased $4.0 billion in December to $1.191 trillion, Govt & Treasury funds increased $109.5 billion to $5.907 trillion and Tax Exempt funds decreased $0.3 billion to $141.0 billion. Taxable yields fell again in December after plunging in November. The SEC's Division of Investment Management summarizes monthly Form N-MFP data and includes asset totals and averages for yields, liquidity levels, WAMs, WALs, holdings, and other money market fund trends. We review their latest numbers below. (Our MFI XLS monthly shows money fund assets rising $51.1 billion in January 2025 to a record $7.234 trillion. In February month-to-date through 2/6, total money fund assets have increased by $15.2 billion to $7.242 trillion, according to Crane Data's separate, and slightly smaller, MFI Daily series.)
Crane Data's February Money Fund Portfolio Holdings, with data as of Jan. 31, 2025, show that holdings of Treasuries jumped sharply last month while Repo declined. Money market securities held by Taxable U.S. money funds (tracked by Crane Data) increased by $84.1 billion to $7.173 trillion in January, after increasing $88.0 billion in December, $190.8 billion in November, $82.8 billion in October, $233.8 billion in September, $57.2 billion in August and $90.4 billion in July. Taxable holdings decreased by $0.4 billion in June, increased $105.6 billion in May, and decreased $61.4 billion in April. Treasuries, the largest segment, increased $92.1 billion in January after decreasing $69.5 billion in December, but increasing $188.3 billion in November. Repo, the second largest portfolio composition segment, decreased by $67.8 billion. Agencies were the third largest segment, CP remained fourth, ahead of CDs, Other/Time Deposits and VRDNs. Below, we review our latest Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics. (Visit our Content center to download, or contact us to request our latest Portfolio Holdings reports.)
Crane Data's latest monthly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics will be sent out Tuesday, and we'll be writing our regular monthly update on the new January 31 data for Wednesday's News. But we also already uploaded a separate and broader Portfolio Holdings data set based on the SEC's Form N-MFP filings on Monday. (We continue to merge the two series, and the N-MFP version is now available via our Portfolio Holdings file listings to Money Fund Wisdom subscribers.) Our new N-MFP summary, with data as of January 31, includes holdings information from 983 money funds (down 10 from last month), representing assets of $7.557 trillion (up from $7.250 trillion). Prime MMFs rose to $1.098 trillion (up from $1.065 trillion), or 14.5% of the total. We review the new N-MFP data, and we also look at our revised MMF expense data, which shows charged expenses were mostly flat and money fund revenues rose to $19.4 billion (annualized) in January. (Note: Please join us for our upcoming Bond Fund Symposium, which is March 27-28 in Newport Beach, Calif!)
Crane Data's latest monthly Money Fund Market Share rankings show assets increasing among most of the largest U.S. money fund complexes in January, after rising in December, November, October, September, August, July, June and May. Assets fell in March and April. Money market fund assets rose by $47.8 billion, or 0.7%, last month to a record $7.229 trillion. Total MMF assets have increased by $360.8 billion, or 5.3%, over the past 3 months, and they've increased by $820.8 billion, or 12.8%, over the past 12 months. The largest increases among the 25 largest managers last month were seen by JPMorgan, Schwab, American Funds, Dreyfus and Fidelity, which grew assets by $19.0 billion, $14.0B, $12.6B, $9.0B and $8.6B, respectively. Declines in January were seen by BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which decreased by $17.6 billion, $15.5B and $12.3B, respectively. Our domestic U.S. "Family" rankings are available in our MFI XLS product, our global rankings are available in our MFI International product. The combined "Family & Global Rankings" are available to Money Fund Wisdom subscribers. We review the latest market share totals, and look at money fund yields, which were lower again in January.
The February issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Friday morning, features the articles: "After the Buzzer: State Street Converting Prime ILR to Govt," which discusses State Street's recent fund filing; "Highlights of Q4 Earnings: Federated, Schwab, Northern," which looks at the latest conference calls from asset managers; and, "Boston Fed Paper Examines Prime Retail MMF Investors" which reviews a study on flows during recent turmoil. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Friday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 1/31/24 data. Our February Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Tuesday, February 11, and our Feb. Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Friday, February 14.
A press release, "BlackRock Expands Access to Cash Management Strategies with Launch of Active Money Market ETFs," which is subtitled, "Funds combine the stability of money market funds with the simplicity and convenience of the ETF wrapper," says, "BlackRock expanded the way investors can manage their cash with the launch of two money market ETFs, including the industry's first prime money market ETF. The iShares Money Market ETFs -- the iShares Prime Money Market ETF (PMMF) and the iShares Government Money Market ETF (GMMF) -- combine the quality and liquidity of regulated money market funds with the transparency and efficiency of the ETF structure."
S&P Global Ratings published "U.S. Domestic 'AAAm' Money Market Fund Trends (Fourth-Quarter 2024)" earlier this week, which tells us, "Similar to the prior quarter, rated MMF assets grew by roughly 7% in Q4 2024, driven by flows into government funds. Rated MMF assets grew 15% overall for 2024, with most of the growth occurring during the second half of the year. We observed a modest reduction in the level of institutional prime fund assets, largely following the latest SEC rule 2a-7 reforms going into effect. Despite numerous fund sponsors consolidating or eliminating their institutional prime offerings, rated prime fund assets only declined 2% year over year. Certain investors moved to government strategies, but others routed assets into the remaining existing prime funds, demonstrating a continued desire for a variety of liquidity tools."
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