Money Market News
The July issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which will be sent to subscribers Tuesday morning, features the articles: "Money Fund Symposium '25 Major Issues: Assets, Repo," which discusses highlights from our recent conference in Boston; "MFS Keynote: SSIM's Yie-Hsin Hung on the Future of Cash," which excerpts from State Street Inv. Mgmt.'s recent speech; and, "ICI Worldwide: MMFs Rise in Q1'25 to Record $11.8 Tril." which reviews the latest figures on money fund markets outside the U.S.' We will also send out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Tuesday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 6/30/25 data. Our July Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Thursday, July 10, and our July Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Tuesday, July 15.
ICI published its latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report on Thursday. The weekly series shows money fund assets jumping $55.6 billion to a record $7.078 trillion, after rising $7.6 billion the week prior. Money fund assets have increased by `$774.7 billion (or 12.3%) since the Fed last cut rates on 9/18/24 and have increased by $1.101 trillion (or 18.4%) since 4/24/24. MMF assets are up by $924 billion, or 15.0%, over the past 52 weeks (through 7/2/25), with Institutional MMFs up $489 billion, or 13.3% and Retail MMFs up $435 billion, or 17.6%. Year-to-date, MMF assets are up by just $228 billion, or 3.3%, with Institutional MMFs up $55 billion, or 1.3% and Retail MMFs up $173 billion, or 6.3%.
The Bank of France published a report titled, "Tokenised money market funds: what are the implications for financial stability?" A section titled, "Tokenisation of money market funds: a new bridge between traditional and tokenised finance," states, "Asset tokenisation refers to the process of issuing and recording an asset in digital form, using a database distributed within a community of users, known as distributed ledger technology (DLT). Tokenised money market funds are similar to traditional money market funds, but differ in their modus operandi. Their legal nature and return remain identical to those of a traditional money market fund. The novelty lies in the recording of fund units in the form of tokens traded on distributed ledgers rather than with a central securities depository as is the case with traditional money market funds. This allows automated operations -- using computer programmes known as smart contracts -- to reduce costs and speed up transactions."
Allspring's Global Liquidity Solutions Team recently refreshed the publication, "The Debt Ceiling - Frequently Asked Questions." The piece states, "We preface our discussion of the debt ceiling with the belief that the likelihood of one or multiple technical defaults due to a protracted debt ceiling debate is remote. In the unlikely event of a technical default, we believe it will be short-lived and that, upon resolution, funds are likely to be unaffected. We further believe that, given evidence of preplanning, the Federal Reserve (Fed) would be prepared to act if necessary to calm government markets and ensure their smooth and orderly functioning. While no one knows what a government default situation would look like, we can offer opinions based on our research." (Note: Thanks once more to those who attended our Money Fund Symposium in Boston last week! Attendees and Crane Data Subscribers may access the recordings and MFS Conference Materials here.)
A statement from Yie-Hsin Hung, President & CEO of State Street Investment Management, tells us, "I'm excited to share that State Street's global asset management business has been rebranded from 'State Street Global Advisors' to 'State Street Investment Management' to better reflect the breadth of solutions and services we offer to investors. Along with our new brand, we have refreshed our logo and brand identity to align closer to our parent, State Street, to create a stronger, more unified presence in the marketplace. Today is just the latest step in our evolution as a firm. In the last year, we've entered into new partnerships, expanded solutions through innovation, and entered new markets -- all to better serve you." (Note: Hung gave a keynote speech at our recent Money Fund Symposium titled, "The Future of Cash. Watch for quotes from this in our upcoming Money Fund Intelligence newsletter.)
ICI published its latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing - May 2025" and "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds" on Friday. ICI's monthly Trends shows money fund totals increasing $84.7 billion, or 1.2%, in May to $6.996 trillion. MMFs have increased by $916.7 billion, or 15.1%, over the past 12 months (through 5/31/25). Money funds' May asset increase follows a decrease of $63.8 billion in April, $10.9 billion in March, an increase of $99.0 billion in February, $31.9 billion in January and $139.3 billion in December. They rose $171.5 billion in November, $117.4 billion in October and $158.6 billion in September. Bond fund assets increased $10.9 billion to $5.137 trillion, and bond ETF assets increased to $1.92 trillion in May 2025. (Note: Thanks once more to those who attended our Money Fund Symposium in Boston last week! Attendees and Crane Data Subscribers may access the recordings and MFS Conference Materials here.)
A recent "JPM Mid-Week US Short Duration Update" featured, "Takeaways from the 2025 Money Fund Symposium." They write, "Over 600 money market participants attended the 17th annual Crane Money Fund Symposium this week in Boston. Here are our key takeaways from the event. 1. Cash is king, with MMF AUMs remaining elevated. Over the past few years, inflows into MMFs have been driven by a combination of safety, liquidity needs, and competitive yields. This trend is unlikely to change anytime soon, given the high degree of uncertainty and the likelihood that policy rates will remain restrictive, leaving cash plentiful in the front end. Most market participants remain optimistic about cash for this year, with expectations that MMF AUMs will continue to trend higher, particularly as we head into 2H where MMFs tend to experience inflows." (Note: Thanks to those who attended our Money Fund Symposium in Boston earlier this week! Attendees and Crane Data Subscribers may access the recordings and MFS Conference Materials here.)
In a recent "Talking Investment Management" podcast titled, "Tokenization and Stablecoins: What Fund Managers Need to Know," Stradley Ronon partners Jamie Gershkow and Jesse Kanach "explore the fast-evolving world of tokenization and what it means for investors, fund sponsors and financial institutions." They "explore how blockchain is reshaping traditional investment instruments, such as money market funds, and enabling new innovations, such as stablecoins and interest-bearing digital assets." Gershkow tells us, "[In] today's episode, we'll discuss the rise of tokenization, which has gained significant traction in the asset management industry.... Jesse, let's start with the basics. When we say tokenization, can you break down what we mean and why tokenization is gaining momentum?" (Note: Thanks to those who attended our Money Fund Symposium in Boston earlier this week! Attendees and Crane Data Subscribers may access the recordings and MFS Conference Materials here.)
We wrote last week on the "2025 AFP Liquidity Survey." (See our June 20 News, "AFP 2025 Liquidity Survey: MMFs Inch Higher; Deposits, T-Bills Lower.") Today, we continue our excerpts from the annual survey of corporate investors' cash habits. Discussing "Current Allocations of Short-Term Investments," AFP says, "Companies maintain their investments in relatively few vehicles. Organizations invest in an average 2.57 vehicles for their cash and short-term investments -- slightly lower than the 2.7 average reported in 2024. Most organizations continue to allocate a large share of their short-term investment balances -- an average of 80% -- in safe and liquid investment vehicles: bank deposits, money market funds (MMFs) and Treasury securities. This result is three percentage points lower than the 83% reported in 2024. The typical organization currently maintains 46% of its short-term investments in bank deposits. This allocation is one percentage point lower than last year (2024) but is 9 percentage points lower than the 55% reported in 2022, and lower than both the 52% reported in 2021 and the 51% in 2020. This year's (2025) allocation is similar to percentages reported in 2019 (46%)." (Note: Thanks to those who attended our Money Fund Symposium in Boston! Attendees and Crane Data Subscribers may access the MFS Conference Materials here.)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published its latest monthly "Money Market Fund Statistics" summary late last week, which shows that total money fund assets rose by $94.4 billion in May 2025 to a record high $7.468 trillion, after hitting the previous record $7.391 trillion two months prior. The SEC shows Prime MMFs increased $11.7 billion in May to $1.270 trillion, Govt & Treasury funds increased $82.3 billion to $6.051 trillion and Tax Exempt funds increased $0.3 billion to $147.3 billion. Taxable yields continued to decline in May after previous decreases in April, March, February and January. 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 jumping $96.6 billion in May 2025, to a new record of $7.414 trillion. In June month-to-date through 6/18, total money fund assets have decreased by $33.0 billion to $7.367 trillion, according to Crane Data's separate, and slightly smaller, MFI Daily series.) (Note: Thanks to those attending our Money Fund Symposium in Boston! We hope you're enjoying the show.... Attendees and Crane Data Subscribers may access the MFS Conference Materials here.)
The Investment Company Institute published, "Worldwide Regulated Open-Fund Assets and Flows, First Quarter 2025," Tuesday, which shows that money fund assets globally rose by $246.3 billion, or 2.1%, in Q1'25 to a record $11.845 trillion. (The totals would have been $12.117 trillion if Australia and New Zealand had been included.) Increases were led by a sharp jump in money funds in U.S. and Luxembourg, while Ireland and Brazil also rose. Meanwhile, money funds in China and Turkey were lower. MMF assets worldwide increased by $1.404 trillion, or 13.4%, in the 12 months through 3/31/25, and money funds in the U.S. now represent 60.1% of worldwide assets. European money fund asset totals surpassed Asian money fund totals for the first time since Q4'2017. We review the latest Worldwide MMF totals, below. (Note: For those attending our Money Fund Symposium, welcome to Boston! Attendees and Crane Data Subscribers may access the MFS Conference Materials here.)
The Association for Financial Professionals, a group representing corporate treasurers, published its "2025 AFP Liquidity Survey" earlier this week. (See AFP's press release.) The cover letter says, "Invesco is once again proud to partner with the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) to sponsor the 20th annual AFP Liquidity Survey Report. This marks the sixth year that Invesco has sponsored this industry-leading exploration into current and emerging corporate cash management trends." Invesco's Laurie Brignac explains, “As highlighted in this year's AFP survey, the U.S. economy continued to grow in 2024, inflation remained above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) took a pause after marginally loosening policy rates. Adding challenge and uncertainty, a new administration took center stage in the U.S. with an aggressive agenda including tariffs which increased market volatility at about the same time this annual AFP survey was in the field." (Note too: For those attending Money Fund Symposium next week (June 23-25) in Boston, we look forward to seeing you! Attendees and subscribers may access the conference materials via our "Money Fund Symposium 2025 Download Center.")
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