Money Market News
Money fund yields (7-day, annualized, simple, net) decreased by 1 bp to 3.50% on average during the week ended Friday, January 23 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after decreasing 2 bps the week prior. Fund yields haven't been below 3.5% since November 2022, and they are down from a recent high of 5.20% in November 2023. They should remain flat in coming days as the market expects the Fed to hold rates steady this week (and perhaps this year). Yields were 3.58% on 12/31/25, 3.78% on 11/30, 3.90% on 10/31, 3.94% on 9/30, 4.11% on 8/31, 4.12% on 7/31, 4.13% on 6/30, 4.14% on 3/31/25 and 4.28% on average on 12/31/24. MMFs averaged 4.75% on 9/30/24, 5.10% on 6/28/24, 5.14% on 3/31/24 and 5.20% on 12/31/23. The broader Crane Money Fund Average, which includes all taxable funds tracked by Crane Data (currently 681), shows a 7-day yield of 3.40%, down 1 bp in the week through Friday.
State Street Investment Management posted a brief earlier this month titled, "An oddly quiet year end." It says, "Front-end markets ended 2025 in rare calm, with tight spreads and steady ABCP pricing. As supply constraints loom and Fed policy evolves, tactical entry points and extensions remain key. US front-end markets closed the year in an unusually orderly fashion -- which, in money-market terms, is a bit like turbulence-free airspace in December: appreciated but treated with suspicion. Year-end funding needs were completed, and activity shifted to day-to-day liquidity management, with little urgency evident as we rolled through year-end. It was exceptionally quiet. Unlike prior years, term spreads have avoided the significant seasonal widening." (Note: We're still looking for sponsors and speakers for our upcoming Bond Fund Symposium, which is March 19-20 in Boston, Mass.)
As we wrote earlier this month (and reprint here), our January MFI issue recognized the top performing money funds, ranked by total returns, for calendar year 2025, as well as the top funds for the past 5-year and 10-year periods. We present the funds below with our annual Money Fund Intelligence Awards. These are given to the No. 1‐ranked funds based on 1-year, 5-year and 10-year returns, through Dec. 31, 2025, in each of our major fund categories -- Prime Institutional, Government Institutional, Treasury Institutional, Prime Retail, Government Retail, Treasury Retail and Tax‐Exempt. (Let us know if you'd like to see our latest Money Fund Intelligence issue with the MFI Awards article or our latest MFI XLS product with the performance data and rankings behind the awards. (Note: Register soon for our upcoming Bond Fund Symposium, which is March 19-20 in Boston, Mass.)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published its latest monthly "Money Market Fund Statistics" summary Tuesday. The report shows that total money fund assets rose by $125.0 billion in December 2025 to a record high $8.180 trillion, after hitting $8.055 trillion the month prior. The SEC shows Prime MMFs increased $1.2 billion in December to $1.342 trillion, Govt & Treasury funds increased $117.3 billion to $6.680 trillion and Tax Exempt funds increased $6.6 billion to $157.9 billion. Taxable yields were lower again in December following declines 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 increasing $129.2 billion in December 2025 to a record of $8.121 trillion. In January month-to-date through 1/20, total money fund assets have decreased by $9.2 billion to $8.100 trillion, according to Crane Data's separate, and slightly smaller, MFI Daily series.)
BlackRock, the 4th largest manager of money market funds with $715.9 billion, reported its Q4 2025 Earnings last week, and discussed a number of cash and fund issues on its Q4 Earnings Call. CFO Martin Small tells us, "BlackRock Cash Management saw $74 billion of net inflows in the fourth quarter and $131 billion in 2025, driven by U.S. Government, International, Prime and Circle Reserve Funds. BlackRock's platform is anchored by growth engines tied to the long-term expansion of global capital markets and fast-growing client product channels. The opportunity ahead is inspiring to reshape portfolios for more complex markets, to deepen partnerships with clients and to deliver durable, profitable growth for our shareholders."
The Investment Company Institute published, "Retirement Assets Total $48.1 Trillion in Third Quarter 2025," which includes data tables showing that money market funds held in retirement accounts jumped to $987 billion (up from $966 billion) in the latest quarter, accounting for 13% of the total $7.321 trillion in money funds. MMFs represent just 6.8% of the total $14.5 trillion of mutual funds in retirement accounts. The release says, "Total US retirement assets were $48.1 trillion as of September 30, 2025, up 4.5 percent from June. Retirement assets accounted for 34 percent of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of September 2025. Assets in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) totaled $18.9 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2025, an increase of 5.2 percent from the end of the second quarter of 2025." (Note: Please join us for our next conference, Bond Fund Symposium, which is March 19-20 in Boston, Mass.)
Crane Data's latest Money Fund Intelligence International shows that assets in European or "offshore" money market mutual funds increased over the past 30 days to a record $1.634 trillion, rising from $1.604 trillion the month prior. Yields were mostly lower, while assets for USD, EUR and GBP MMFs all rose over the past month. Like U.S. money fund assets, European MMFs have repeatedly hit record highs in 2023, 2024 and 2025 (after a pause in Q2'25). These U.S.-style money funds, domiciled in Ireland or Luxembourg and denominated in US Dollars, Pound Sterling and Euros, increased by $48.4 billion over the 30 days through 1/14. The totals are up $49.3 billion (3.1%) year-to-date for 2026. They were up $151.9 billion (10.6%) for 2025, 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 USD. 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 January issue of our Bond Fund Intelligence, which was sent to subscribers Thursday a.m., features the articles, "Top Stories & Funds of '25: Another Big Year for Bonds," which mentions some highlights and the best-performing funds by category in 2025; and "Worldwide BF Assets Jump to $15.8 Trillion, Led by U.S.," which summarizes the latest statistics on bond fund markets outside the U.S. BFI also recaps the latest Bond Fund News and includes our Crane BFI Indexes, which show that bond fund returns and yields were mixed in December. 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 19-20 in Boston, Mass.)
The Federal Reserve released its latest quarterly "Z.1 Financial Accounts of the United States" statistical survey (a.k.a. "Flow of Funds") recently, and among the 4 tables it includes on money market mutual funds, the Third Quarter 2025 edition shows that Total MMF Assets increased by $293 billion to $7.774 trillion in Q3'25. The Household Sector, by far the largest investor segment with $5.035 trillion, saw the biggest asset increase in Q3, followed by Nonfinancial Corporate Business and Other Financial Business (formerly Funding Corps). The Fed's latest Z.1 numbers, which contain one of the few looks at money fund investor segments available, also showed noticeable increases for the Mutual Funds and Rest of the World categories in Q3 2025.
Crane Data's January Money Fund Portfolio Holdings, with data as of Dec. 31, 2025, show that holdings of Treasuries and Repo both increased. Money market securities held by Taxable U.S. money funds (tracked by Crane Data) increased by $231.8 billion to $8.119 trillion in December, after increasing $134.3 billion in November, $158.4 billion in October, $56.1 billion in September, $166.6 billion in August, $17.6 billion in July, $84.0 billion in June and $72.0 billion in May. They decreased by $73.8 billion in April. Assets rose by $45.6 billion in March, $53.7 billion in February and $84.1 billion in January. Treasuries, the largest portfolio composition segment, increased by $44.8 billion. Repo, the second largest segment, increased $156.0 billion in December. Agencies were the third largest segment, and CP remained fourth, ahead of CDs, Other/Time Deposits and VRDNs. Below, we review our 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 Monday, and we'll be writing our regular monthly update on the new December data for Tuesday'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 Friday. (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 December 31, includes holdings information from 987 money funds (down 1 from last month), representing assets of $8.298 trillion (up from $8.056 trillion a month ago). Prime MMFs rose to $1.229 trillion (down slightly from $1.229 trillion), or 14.8% 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 $21.6 billion (annualized) in December.
Crane Data's latest monthly Money Fund Market Share rankings show assets sharply higher among the largest U.S. money fund complexes in December, after also jumping in November. Assets have increased in 17 of the past 18 months (only April 2025 saw declines). Money market fund assets rose by $123.5 billion, or 1.5%, last month to a record $8.111 trillion. Total MMF assets have increased by $398.8 billion, or 5.2%, over the past 3 months, and they've increased by $930.2 billion, or 13.0%, over the past 12 months. The largest increases among the 25 largest managers last month were seen by JPMorgan, Fidelity, BlackRock, Federated Hermes and Morgan Stanley, which grew assets by $40.7 billion, $36.1B, $28.4B, $16.1B and $14.3B, respectively. Declines in December were seen by American Funds, Vanguard, Allspring, PGIM and Columbia, which decreased by $31.5 billion, $7.5B, $6.8B, $1.6B and $876M, 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 in December.
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