Consulting Services
ICI's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows MMFs rebounding after six weeks of declines. The release says, "Total money market fund assets1 increased by $7.16 billion to $4.49 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, July 21, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $9.22 billion and prime funds decreased by $1.09 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $970 million." Money fund assets are up by $190 billion, or 4.4%, year-to-date in 2021. Inst MMFs are up $288 billion (10.4%), while Retail MMFs are down $99 billion (-6.5%). ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs increasing $8.5 billion and Retail MMFs decreasing $1.3 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $3.914 trillion (87.2% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $480.0 billion (10.7%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $92.7 billion (2.1%). Over the past 52 weeks, money fund assets have decreased by $102 billion, or -2.2%, with Retail MMFs falling by $114 billion (-7.4%) and Inst MMFs rising by $13 billion (0.4%). (Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're almost $400 billion lower than our asset series.) ICI explains, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $1.31 billion to $1.43 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $734 million to $1.12 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $1.56 billion to $225.55 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $482 million to $80.40 billion." Retail assets account for just under a third of total assets, or 31.8%, and Government Retail assets make up 78.6% of all Retail MMFs. ICI adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $8.47 billion to $3.06 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $8.48 billion to $2.79 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $473 million to $254.43 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $488 million to $12.33 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 68.2% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 91.3% of all Institutional MMF totals.
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Consulting Services News
Jan 08
The January issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Wednesday morning, features the articles: "Yields Bottoming Near 4.20%; Assets Keep Breaking Records," which discusses the move lower and plateauing of yields and jumps in assets; "ICI: Worldwide MMF Assets Rise in Q3'24 to $11.2 Tril.," which looks at the latest MMF statistics outside the U.S.; and, "Top Money Funds of 2024; 16th Annual MFI Awards" which reviews the best performing MMFs of 2024. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Wednesday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 12/31/24 data. Our Jan. Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Friday, December 10, and our Jan. Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Wednesday, January 15.
MFI's "Yields Bottoming" article says, "Money fund yields fell by 16 basis points to 4.28% on average during December (down from 5.20% at the start of 2024). Our Crane 100 Money Fund Index continues inching lower, falling to 4.23% as of 1/6/25. Fund yields have now digested most of the Federal Reserve's 25 basis point cut on Dec. 18, though they may inch a lower in coming days. But yields should remain solidly above 4.0% in the near-term, and they may even hold these levels for the entire year as expectations for more rate cuts evaporate."
It continues, "Yields on average have declined by 81 bps since the Fed first cut its Fed funds target rate by 50 bps percent on Sept. 18, and they've declined by 38 bps since the Fed cut rates by 1/4 point on 11/7. Yields were 4.45% on 11/30/24, 4.65% on 10/31, 4.75% on 9/30, 5.10% on 8/31, 5.13% on 7/31 and 6/28, 5.14% on 3/31/24 and 5.20% on 12/31/23."
We write in our Worldwide article, "The Investment Company Institute published, 'Worldwide Regulated Open-Fund Assets and Flows, Third Quarter 2024,' which shows that money fund assets globally rose by $572.9 billion, or 5.4%, in Q3'24 to a record $11.215 trillion. Increases were led by a sharp jump in money funds in U.S., Ireland and China, while Luxembourg and France also rose. Meanwhile, money funds in Mexico and Korea were lower. MMF assets worldwide increased by $1.271 trillion, or 12.8%, in the 12 months through 9/30/24, and MMFs in the U.S. now represent 60.4% of worldwide assets."
It states, "ICI's release says, 'Worldwide regulated open-end fund assets increased 6.8% to $74.95 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2024, excluding funds of funds. Worldwide net cash inflow to all funds was $913 billion in the third quarter, compared with $819 billion of net inflows in the second quarter of 2024. The Investment Company Institute compiles worldwide regulated open-end fund statistics on behalf of the International Investment Funds Association (IIFA), the organization of national fund associations. The collection for the third quarter of 2024 contains statistics from 44 jurisdictions.'"
Our "Top Money Funds of 2024" piece says, "This issue recognizes the top performing money funds, ranked by total returns, for calendar year 2024, 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, 2023, in each of our major fund categories -- Prime Institutional, Government Institutional, Treasury Institutional, Prime Retail, Government Retail, Treasury Retail and Tax‐Exempt."
The piece continues, "The Top-Performing Prime Institutional fund (and fund overall) was BlackRock Cash Inst MMF SL (BISXX), which returned 5.43%. Among Prime Retail funds, Schwab Value Adv MF Ultra (SNAXX) had the best return in 2024 (5.36%). (Our Crane 100 Money Fund Index returned 5.08% in 2024.)"
MFI also includes the News brief, "Fed Cuts Rates Another 1/4 to 4.375%. The FOMC's Statement says, 'Inflation has made progress toward the Committee’s 2 percent objective but remains somewhat elevated.... In support of its goals, the Committee decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point to 4-1/4 to 4-1/2 percent.'"
Another News brief, "J.P. Morgan's 'Mid-Week US Short Duration Update,' features, 'November MMF Holdings Update: Sufficient Supply Meeting MMFs' Demand.' It states, 'Taxable MMFs experienced another strong month of inflows in November, with AUMs increasing by nearly $200bn, bringing total balances to just under $7tn. Despite this significant rise in balances, MMFs successfully found enough supply to meet their demand throughout the month, aided by a rise in T-bill, repo, and time deposit outstandings. As a result, MMFs' use of ON RRP fell to an end-of-month low since May 2021.'"
A third News brief, "SEC Stats: MMF Assets Jump to Record $7.13 Tril. in Nov., Yields Fall," says, "The SEC's 'Money Market Fund Statistics' show that total money fund assets rose by $197.8 billion in November to a record $7.125 trillion. Prime MMFs increased $12.9 billion to $1.187 trillion, Govt & Treasury funds increased $181.5 billion to $5.797 trillion and Tax Exempt funds increased $3.4 billion to $141.3 billion. Taxable yields fell again in November after plunging in October.'"
A sidebar, "WSJ on Why to Cheer MMFs," says, "The Wall Street Journal tells us, 'Why You May Want to Cheer for Money-Market Funds.' Subtitled, 'Money funds remain an attractive place for excess cash and can help keep a lid on short-term borrowing costs,' the article says, 'Cash might be a trash asset to some risk-loving traders. But it's a pretty good thing to have sloshing around the economy. U.S. money-market fund assets have so far through mid-December grown by over $800 billion in 2024, bringing the nearly two-year gain since the end of 2022 to roughly $2 trillion, according to [ICI]. This continuing flow may be a surprise to some. At points in 2024, it often seemed that Fed ... cuts, plus a bullish tilt to equity markets, would push more investors out of cash.'"
Our January MFI XLS, with Dec. 31 data, shows total assets increased $113.0 billion to a record $7.184 trillion, after increasing $196.1 billion in November, $89.9 billion in October, $155.2 billion in September, $105.6 billion in August, $19.7 billion in July, $11.8 billion in June and $79.7 billion in May. They decreased $17.6 billion in April and $66.7 billion in March, but increased $50.0 billion in February and $87.0 billion last January.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 15 bps at 4.19%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was also down 16 bps at 4.28% in December. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 4.58% and 4.55%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.39% and 0.27% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 12/31/24 on Thursday, 1/9.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 37 days (up 1 bp) and the Crane 100 WAM was unchanged from the previous month at 37 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
Dec 06
The December issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Friday morning, features the articles: "Money Fund Assets Break Over $7.0 Trillion; Still Going," which reviews the continued jump in MMF assets; "Top 10 Stories of 2024: Asset Surge Continues, Yields Peak," which looks back at some of Crane Data's top stories of the year; and, "BlackRock Files for Money Market ETFs: Will They Fly?" which looks at the new ETF filing. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Friday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 11/30/24 data. Our Dec. Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Tuesday, December 10, and our Dec. Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Friday, December 13. (Note: We're still taking registrations for our "basic training" event, Money Fund University, which is Dec. 19-20 in Providence, R.I.)
MFI's "$7.0 Trillion" article says, “Money market mutual fund assets broke the $7.0 trillion barrier for the first time ever on Wednesday, Nov. 13, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. Assets jumped following the Federal Reserve's Nov. 7 25 basis point rate cut, and they've continued surging higher in December, rising $58.0 billion month-to-date (through 12/3) to a record $7.121 trillion. Money fund assets have increased by $816.0 billion (13.0%) year-to-date in 2024 (through 12/4).
It continues, "According to our monthly MFI XLS, money fund assets increased by $196.1 billion in November to a record $7.066 trillion. Assets rose by $97.5 billion in October, $149.8 billion in September, $109.7 billion in August, $16.6 billion in July, $15.7 billion in June and $91.4 billion in May. They declined by $15.8 billion in April and $68.8 billion in March. They rose $72.1 billion in February, $93.9 billion in Jan., $32.7 billion in December and $226.4 billion last November."
We write in our Top 10 article, "Dramatic asset growth was again the biggest story of the year, as money market fund assets jumped by $800 billion to a record $7.0 trillion (after jumping by over $1.0 trillion last year). With still almost a month to go, money fund asset growth could approach $1.0 trillion by yearend. In 2023, rising yields were the big news. Though yields have begun declining, and are now below 4.5%, yields remained above 5% for most of the past year. So great yields were another theme of 2024. Other major headlines of 2024 included: the implementation (and minor impact) of the SEC's latest Money Fund Reforms, the birth of tokenized money market funds (and money fund ETFs), the continued growth of Social (and shrinkage of ESG) MMFs and the increase in assets and now decline in yields in European and other worldwide markets. Below, we excerpt from a number of our biggest and most representative news stories of 2024 to highlight the major trends of the past year."
It states, "Crane Data's Top 10 Stories of 2024 include (in chronological order): 'Dreyfus Liquid Assets Celebrates 50th Birthday; ICI Trends for December' (1/31/24); 'American Funds Central Cash to Convert to Govt to Avoid Liquidity Fees' (2/6/24); 'BlackRock Launches Private Tokenized Money Fund, BUIDL; BVI Domicile' (3/22/24); 'ICI: Worldwide MF Assets Jump in Q4'23, Break $10 Trillion; US Leads' (3/25/24); 'Goldman Files to Liquidate Prime Inst MMFs; Barron's: MMFs Tempting' (4/22/24); 'More AFP Liquidity Survey: Banks, MMFs, T-Bills Kings of Cash; MMFs Up' (6/27/24); 'WSJ, Investment News on Brokerage Deposit, Advisory Sweep Pressures' (7/19/24); 'SSGA Sticks w/Prime Inst Money Funds; Discusses Reforms; Benchmarks' (8/29/24); 'MMF Assets Break $6.7 Trillion; Crane 100 Falls Below 5.0%; FT on MMFs' (9/24/24); 'Bloomberg, ignites on Latest MMF Reforms; Prime Inst Shift a Nonevent' (10/3/24); and, 'Money Fund Assets Break Over $7.0 Trillion; S&P on AAA Rated MFs in Q3' (11/13/24)."
Our "BlackRock" piece says, "A Form N-1A Registration Statement for the BlackRock ETF Trust and its new iShares Prime Money Market ETF tells us, 'The iShares Prime Money Market ETF seeks as high a level of current income as is consistent with liquidity and stability of principal.... The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, in a broad range of U.S. dollar-denominated money market instruments, including government, U.S. and foreign bank, and commercial obligations and repurchase agreements. The Fund invests in securities maturing in 397 days or less (with certain exceptions) and the portfolio will have a dollar-weighted average maturity of 60 days or less and a dollar-weighted average life of 120 days or less.'"
The piece continues, "The Fund's Board of Trustees has determined that the Fund will qualify as a 'money market fund' pursuant to Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended ('Rule 2a-7'). The securities purchased by the Fund are subject to the quality, diversification, and other requirements of Rule 2a-7, and other rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission ('SEC'). Unlike a traditional money market fund, the Fund operates as an exchange traded fund ('ETF'). As an ETF, the Fund's shares will be traded on [an exchange] and will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in net asset value ('NAV') per share as well as the relative supply of, and demand for, shares on [the exchange]."
MFI also includes the News brief, "Reuters: 'America's $7 Trillion Cash Stash Isn't Going Anywhere.' They write, 'A record-high $7 trillion of cash is currently sitting 'on the sidelines' in money market funds.... Anyone hoping to see a significant chunk of this flooding the wider investment field in the coming months may be disappointed. Many strategists assume this massive pile of cash will start to shrink now that the Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates as investors seek a more profitable home for their capital in the face of diminishing cash yields.... Not so fast.'"
Another News brief, "Money Fund Yields Dip Below 4.5%," states, "Money fund yields declined by 20 basis points to 4.44% on average during the month ended November 30 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after falling 11 bps in October and 35 bps in September. Yields now reflect the majority of the Fed's 25 bps cut on November 7, but they should continue inching lower this week and next. They've declined by 58 bps since the Fed cut its target rate by 50 bps on Sept. 18 and by 15 bps since the Fed cut rates by 1/4 point on 11/7."
A third News brief, "Northern Trust A.M.'s 'Global Investment Outlook 2025," quotes NTAM, "Money fund assets up while rates go down.... Importantly for money market investors, we and the markets see little chance rates return to the zero lower bound anytime soon -- a welcome change from much of the past 15 years of very low yields on cash."
A sidebar says, "Barron's asks, 'Can Cash Be King Again? Suddenly, T-Bills Look More Attractive.' Subtitled, 'The potential for higher-for-longer rates means cash vehicles, including Treasury bills, money market funds and savings accounts, could continue to offer attractive yields into next year,' the article says, 'Cash could be the best game in town. That’s the argument of one prominent Wall Street analyst after market shifts make short-term investments look a lot more attractive.'"
Our December MFI XLS, with Nov. 30 data, shows total assets increased $196.1 billion to a record $7.066 trillion, after increasing $89.9 billion in October, $155.2 billion in September, $105.6 billion in August, $19.7 billion in July, $11.8 billion in June and $79.7 billion in May. They decreased $17.6 billion in April and $66.7 billion in March, but increased $50.0 billion in February, $87.0 billion in January and $24.5 billion last December.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 20 bps at 4.34%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was also down 20 bps at 4.44% in November. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 4.71% and 4.71%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.38% and 0.27% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 11/30/24 on Monday, 12/9.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 36 days (up 1 bp) and the Crane 100 WAM was up 1 bp from the previous month at 37 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
Nov 07
The November issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Thursday morning, features the articles: "Tokenized Money Funds Gain Momentum; Issues Remain," which reviews the latest releases and news on MMFs on the blockchain; "Federated Hermes, Schwab Earnings Calls Highlight MMFs," which quotes from recent earnings call MMF comments; and, "BNY, UBS Latest to Liquidate Municipal Money Funds," which recaps the thinning among Tax-Exempt Money Funds. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Thursday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 10/31/24 data. Our Nov. Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Tuesday, November 12, and our Nov. Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Friday, November 15 (a day late due to the Veterans Day Holiday). (Note: Please join us for our "basic training" event, Money Fund University, which takes place Dec. 19-20 in Providence, R.I.)
MFI's "Tokenized Money Funds" article says, "We've seen more `press releases and articles on tokenized money market funds in the last month than we've seen over the previous year. While most tout the promise, major obstacles remain before tokenized money funds become more than just an experiment. The Block writes, 'Regulatory uncertainty is a barrier to the institutional adoption of tokenized money market funds: analyst,' which says, 'The risk of adverse regulatory intervention remains a major obstacle to the broader adoption of tokenized money market funds among institutional players, an analyst said.'"
It continues, "They quote, 'Tokenized money market funds are under constant threat of adverse regulatory action, curbing investors' appetite,' Rho Labs founder Alex Ryvkin told The Block.... I can confirm that widespread tokenized RWA-readiness is, although inevitable, still a couple of years away.' Ryvkin explained that while awareness and interest in tokenized real-world assets have grown, progress on regulatory clarity and infrastructure development will be necessary before these products achieve mass adoption. He noted that the current adoption stage remains in the 'experimentation phase,' with the usage of tokenized money market products still lagging far behind their traditional finance counterparts."
We write in our Earnings Calls article, "On Federated Hermes' Q3'24 earnings call, CEO J. Christopher Donahue, comments, 'We reached another record high for money market fund assets of $440 billion and total money market assets of ... $593 billion.... We believe a late quarter jump in SOFR rates led to certain investors shifting some assets into the direct market. We also saw certain large clients using money fund assets to pay down debt going into quarter end.'"
It states, "He explains, 'Q3 saw the first of several expected reductions in the Fed funds target rate, driving substantial growth in industry money market fund asset levels, particularly in August and September. Looking ahead for the rest of '24 and into '25, we believe that market conditions for money market strategies will continue to be favorable and that money market fund yields will continue to be attractive compared to the direct market and bank deposit rates.'"
Our "BNY, UBS Liquidate" piece says, "The number of Tax-Exempt and Muni Money Funds, particularly Institutional T-E MMFs, continues to shrink. A Prospectus Supplement filing for BNY Mellon National Municipal Money Market Fund states, 'The Board of Trustees of BNY Mellon Funds Trust has approved the liquidation of BNY Mellon National Municipal Money Market Fund, a series of the Trust, effective on or about October 21, 2024. Before the Liquidation Date, and at the discretion of Fund management, the Fund's portfolio securities will be sold and/or allowed to mature in their normal course and the Fund may cease to pursue its investment objective and policies. The liquidation of the Fund may result in one or more taxable events for shareholders subject to federal income tax.'"
The piece states, "It says, 'Accordingly, effective on or about Sept. 18, 2024, the Fund will be closed to any investments for new accounts, except that new accounts may be established for 'sweep accounts' and by participants in group retirement plans, provided the plan sponsor has been approved by BNY Mellon Investment Adviser, in the case of BNYM Adviser-sponsored retirement plans, or BNY Wealth, in the case of BNYW-sponsored retirement plans, and has established the Fund as an investment option in the plan before the Closing Date.'"
MFI also includes the News brief, "Money Fund Assets Break $6.9 Tril.," which says, "Crane Data's MFI Daily asset series broke $6.9 trillion for the first time ever, hitting a record $6.919 trillion on Tuesday (11/5). Our monthly MFI XLS series shows MMFs rising $89.9 billion in October to a record $6.865 trillion. ICI's last weekly 'Money Market Fund Assets' report shows money funds dipping $2.2 billion to $6.506 trillion in the week ended 10/30 after breaking the $6.5 trillion barrier the prior week."
Another News brief, "The WSJ Says, 'Cash Is No Longer King, but It's Hardly Trash. That's Trouble for Brokers,' tells us, 'Since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in 2022, brokerages have seen a key revenue source come under big pressure: What they can earn on customers' uninvested cash. When rates were super low, brokers could earn a good margin by sweeping that money into banks.'"
A third News brief, "Yahoo Writes, 'Cash Doesn't Always Come Off The Sidelines,' They explain, 'The Federal Reserve held interest rates ... high for more than a year. Investors took notice, piling into money market accounts to grab yields that haven't been available in more than a decade. But since the Fed slashed rates by 0.5% on Sept. 18, the flows into money market accounts haven't stopped. In fact, through Oct. 10, ... assets have increased by ... $180 billion since the Fed began cutting.' (See also, Reuters' 'The peculiar 'no show' from US cash funds.')"
A sidebar, "NYT: Money Funds Still Hot," says, "The New York Times writes, 'Money Market Rates Are Lower, Yes. But Compared to What?' Subtitled, 'Even with further Fed rate cuts likely, money market funds are a good alternative for stashing cash, and investors are still flocking to them, our columnist says,' the piece states, 'When money market interest rates broke above 5% last year, it was a wake-up call for many investors who had grown accustomed to getting almost nothing for their money at banks. Hundreds of billions of dollars flowed into the funds…. Now that the Federal Reserve has begun cutting short-term interest rates ... you may expect that these funds would be less appealing. But nothing could be further from the truth. The 'wall of cash' in money market funds isn't flowing into the stock market or other risky investments. It is, for the most part, staying where it is -- and growing larger.'"
Our November MFI XLS, with Oct. 31 data, shows total assets increased $89.9 billion to a record $6.865 trillion, after increasing $155.2 billion in September, $105.6 billion in August, $19.7 billion in July, $11.8 billion in June and $79.7 billion in May. They decreased $17.6 billion in April and $66.7 billion in March, but increased $50.0 billion in February, $87.0 billion in January, $24.5 billion in December and $219.8 billion in November.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 10 bps at 4.55%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was also down 11 bps at 4.64% in October. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 4.93% and 4.91%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.38% and 0.27% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 10/31/24 on Friday, 11/8.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 34 days (up 3 bps) and the Crane 100 WAM was up 6 bps from the previous month at 36 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
Oct 07
The October issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Monday morning, features the articles: "Assets Spike to Record $6.8T; Yields Plunge to 4.7% on Cut," which reviews the jump in assets and drop in yields following the big Fed cut; "European MF Symposium: Breaking Records in London," which quotes from our recent offshore MMF conference; and, "Worldwide MMFs Jump in Q2'24, Hit Record $10.6 Tril.," which recaps the latest statistics on money fund markets outside the U.S. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Monday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 9/30/24 data. Our Oct. Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Wednesday, October 9, and our Oct. Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Tuesday, October 15 (a day late due to the Columbus Day Holiday). (Note: Please join us for our "basic training" event, Money Fund University, which takes place Dec. 19-20 in Providence, R.I.)
MFI's "Assets Spike" article says, "Money fund yields moved sharply lower following the Federal Reserve's Sept. 18 50 basis point rate cut. They quickly fell below 5.0% and are now stabilizing at around 4.75% on average. Meanwhile, money market mutual fund assets jumped to all-time records, rising $155.2 billion in September to a record $6.777 trillion, according to MFI. They've continued rising in October, breaking the $6.8 trillion level on Thursday (10/3)."
It continues, "Money fund yields fell 35 basis points to 4.75% on average in September (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index, an average of 7-day yields for the 100 largest taxable money funds). Yields were 5.10% on 8/31, 5.13% on 7/31 and 6/28, 5.14% on 5/31, 5.13% on 4/30, 5.14% on 3/31 and 2/29/24, 5.17% on 1/31/24, 5.20% on 12/31/23. Yields should continue to inch lower as they digest the final remnants of the Fed cut, then they should stabilize until the next cut."
We write in our European MF Symposium article, "Crane Data recently hosted its 10th annual European Money Fund Symposium in London, England, which featured record attendance (210) and two days of discussions on offshore money funds denominated in USD, EUR and GBP. Veronica Iommi, Secretary General of IMMFA, the Institutional Money Market Funds Association, presented on 'The State of MMFs in Europe.' She began by looking at the current MMF landscape in Europe, including a brief reminder of how IMMFA MMFs have performed in recent years followed by a review of where we are on the regulatory front, what this might mean for us looking forwards and IMMFA's role as a voice of the Money Market Fund industry."
It states, "She tells the audience, 'Since last year, there have also been some developments at IMMFA ... including the decision to increase our focus on technology and the tokenization of money market funds. We welcomed four new associate members specializing in fin-tech to the IMMFA family, namely Cachematrix, Calastone, Fund Connect and Morgan Money. These new associate members joined existing members in a working group which has already been very actively engaged in discussions with regulators and policymakers.'"
Our "Worldwide" piece says, "The Investment Company Institute's 'Worldwide Regulated Open-Fund Assets and Flows, Second Quarter 2024,' shows that money fund assets globally rose by $201.6 billion, or 1.9%, in Q2’24 to $10.643 trillion. Increases were led by a sharp jump in money funds in U.S. and China, while Luxembourg and India also rose. Meanwhile, money funds in Brazil and Japan were lower. MMF assets worldwide increased by $923.8 billion, or 9.5%, in the 12 months through 6/30/24."
The piece states, "According to Crane Data's analysis of ICI's 'Worldwide' fund data, the U.S. sustained its position as the largest money fund market in Q2'24 with $6.092 trillion, or 57.2% of all global MMF assets. U.S. MMF assets increased by $172.7 billion (2.9%) in Q2'24 and have increased by $642.1 billion (11.8%) in the 12 months through June 30, 2024. China remained in second place among countries overall. China saw assets increase $226.3 billion (14.2%) in Q2 to $1.815 trillion (17.1% of worldwide assets). Over the 12 months through June 30, 2024, Chinese MMFs have increased $231.3 billion, or 14.6%."
MFI also includes the News brief, "Fed Goes Big, Cuts Rates by 50 Bps. A release titled, 'Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement,' tells us, 'In light of the progress on inflation and the balance of risks, the Committee decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/2 percentage point to 4-3/4 to 5 percent.'"
Another News brief, "Bloomberg Says, 'Money-Market Funds Stay in Vogue Even as Reforms Go Into Effect.' They write, 'Money-market funds are attracting record amounts of cash, even as a regulatory overhaul [goes live].... The [SEC] approved measures last year.... The final piece of the reform requiring fund managers to impose mandatory liquidity fees went into effect [Oct. 2]."
A third News brief, "Texas Capital Launches Govt MM ETF," states, "A release, 'Texas Capital Launches Government Money Market Exchange Traded Fund,' claims, 'Texas Capital Bank Private Wealth Advisors, a subsidiary of Texas Capital Bank, and the Texas Capital Funds Trust … announced the launch of the Texas Capital Government Money Market ETF (MMKT).'"
A sidebar, "Janus MMF to Support ACS," says, "A press release titled, 'Janus Henderson Offers Money Market Fund to Support the American Cancer Society,' states, 'Janus Henderson ... and the American Cancer Society (ACS) ... announced an innovative partnership to support cancer research, advocacy, and patient support. Through this pioneering initiative, Janus Henderson will donate an amount equal to half of its management fees for all assets under management from Janus Henderson’s Government Money Market Fund to ACS. Janus Henderson has committed to donating a minimum of $1 million per year to ACS for the next three years through this innovative partnership to support the fight against cancer.'"
Our October MFI XLS, with Sept. 30 data, shows total assets increased $155.2 billion to a record $6.777 trillion, after increasing $105.6 billion in August, $19.7 billion in July, $11.8 billion in June and $79.7 billion in May. They decreased $17.6 billion in April and $66.7 billion in March, but increased $50.0 billion in February, $87.0 billion in January, $24.5 billion in December and $219.8 billion in November. Assets decreased $39.3 billion last October and increased $77.8 billion last September.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 34 bps at 4.65%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was also down 35 bps at 4.75% in September. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 5.04% and 5.01%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.38% and 0.27% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 9/30/24 on Tuesday, 10/8.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 31 days (down 2 bp) and the Crane 100 WAM was down 3 bps from the previous month at 30 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)