Northern Institutional Funds filed to liquidate its $1.7 billion Northern Prime Obligations Portfolio earlier this week, we learned from Bloomberg. The filing says, "The Board of Trustees (the 'Board') of Northern Institutional Funds (the 'Trust') has determined, after consideration of a number of factors, that it is in the best interests of the Prime Obligations Portfolio (the 'Portfolio') and its shareholders that the Portfolio be liquidated and terminated on or about July 10, 2020 (the 'Liquidation Date') pursuant to a plan of liquidation approved by the Board. The Liquidation Date may be changed at the discretion of the Trust's officers. The pending liquidation of the Portfolio may be terminated and/or abandoned at any time before the Liquidation Date by action of the Board of the Trust. As of the date of this supplement, Williams Capital Shares of the Portfolio have not commenced operations and are not offered for purchase." (The fund's assets are down from $3.8 billion on Feb. 28, 2020.)
The Bloomberg piece, "Northern Trust to Shutter Money-Market Fund After Redemptions," tells us, "Northern Trust Corp. is shutting down a money-market mutual fund after volatility in March spurred redemptions that sent it below a regulatory threshold for maintaining liquidity. The $1.7 billion Northern Institutional Prime Obligations Portfolio will stop accepting new investments next month and start selling its holdings under a liquidation plan set for July 10, according to a filing."
Reuters, in a March 23 article,"Fed's Money Market Move Lifts Northern Trust Fund Above Key Threshhold," wrote, "Liquidity at a $2.2 billion prime money-market fund run by Northern Trust Corp fell below the key 30% U.S. regulatory threshold twice last week, but rebounded above that level after the U.S. Federal Reserve shored up the industry. As the coronavirus roils the global economy and squeezes Wall Street for cash, money-market reforms put in place after the 2007-2009 financial crisis are weathering a major test."
They explained, "Several institutional prime funds, whose investors include large corporations, were at risk of falling below the 30% threshold before the Fed took extraordinary steps reminiscent of the last financial crisis to backstop the money-market industry." The Northern Prime Obligations Portfolio disclosed that its weekly liquidity level fell to 27% of assets twice last week, according to the fund's website -- reducing its buffer for quickly converting assets into cash to meet investors' redemptions. However, Chicago-based Northern Trust, a bank and wealth manager, said on Monday the latest weekly liquidity level for the fund was nearly 41%."
In other news, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published an update on the "The Primary Dealer Credit Facility" via its Liberty Street Economics blog. They write, "On March 17, 2020, the Federal Reserve announced that it would re-establish the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF) to allow primary dealers to support smooth market functioning and facilitate the availability of credit to businesses and households. The PDCF started offering overnight and term funding with maturities of up to ninety days on March 20. It will be in place for at least six months and may be extended as conditions warrant. In this post, we provide an overview of the PDCF and its usage to date."
The NY Fed writes, "Lending rose quickly after the PDCF's launch, and the weekly average of outstanding loans peaked at over $35 billion for the week ending April 15.... Outstanding loans remained in the $30-35 billion range for a few weeks, before decreasing recently, as market conditions improved. The vast majority of value-weighted PDCF loans have a maturity longer than overnight.... The bulk of the assets financed in the PDCF to date have been corporate and municipal debt, as well as asset-backed securities and commercial paper. These are asset classes that were experiencing considerable volatility and pressure in early March. Market conditions have improved markedly since the introduction of a variety of Fed interventions, including the PDCF."
They explain, "The Federal Reserve initially established the PDCF in March of 2008, following severe strains in the tri-party repo market, associated in part with Bear Stearns' troubles.... Following its inception in March 2008, usage of the original PDCF increased to approximately $40 billion, before decreasing to zero by mid-2008.... This $40 billion level is roughly comparable to the peak usage of today's PDCF. Usage of the original PDCF increased to over $140 billion in September 2008, following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. This peak is much higher than the current use of today's PDCF. However, the range of collateral eligible for the PDCF post-Lehman was much broader than the range of eligible collateral at the PDCF today, making comparisons difficult."
The piece adds, "The PDCF is one of many facilities introduced by the Federal Reserve to support the U.S. economy in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The PDCF helps primary dealers support smooth market functioning and facilitate the availability of credit to businesses and households in their capacity as market makers for corporate, consumer, and municipal obligations." For more, see these previous Liberty Street Economics blogs: "The Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility" and "The Commercial Paper Funding Facility."
Finally, 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 May 15) includes Holdings information from 80 money funds (up two from two weeks ago), which represent $2.664 trillion (up from $2.568 trillion) of the $5.123 trillion (52.0%) in total money fund assets tracked by Crane Data. (Note that our Weekly MFPH are e-mail only and aren't available on the website. For our latest monthly Holdings, see our May 12 News, "May MF Portfolio Holdings: Treasuries Skyrocket, Repo Plunges in April.)
Our latest Weekly MFPH Composition summary again shows Government assets dominating the holdings list with Treasury totaling $1.344 trillion (up from $1.209 trillion two weeks ago), or 50.4%, Repurchase Agreements (Repo) totaling $635.7 billion (down from $706.4 billion two weeks ago), or 23.9% and Government Agency securities totaling $470.7 billion (up from $470.4 billion), or 17.7%. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) totaled $70.7 billion (up from $48.7 billion), or 2.7% and Commercial Paper (CP) totaled $59.2 billion (up from $58.7 billion), or 2.2%. A total of $46.9 billion or 1.8%, was listed in the Other category (primarily Time Deposits), and VRDNs accounted for $37.6 billion, or 1.4%.
The Ten Largest Issuers in our Weekly Holdings product include: the US Treasury with $1.344 trillion (50.4% of total holdings), Federal Home Loan Bank with $289.3B (10.9%), Fixed Income Clearing Co with $99.9B (3.7%), Federal Farm Credit Bank with $69.9B (2.6%), BNP Paribas with $69.5B (2.6%), Federal National Mortgage Association with $57.5B (2.2%), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp with $51.3B (1.9%), JP Morgan with $49.5B (1.9%), RBC with $46.8B (1.8%) and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc with $30.0B (1.1%).
The Ten Largest Funds tracked in our latest Weekly include: JP Morgan US Govt ($228.4B), Goldman Sachs FS Govt ($217.0B), Fidelity Inv MM: Govt Port ($194.3B), BlackRock Lq FedFund ($175.5B), JPMorgan 100% US Treas MMkt ($142.3B), Wells Fargo Govt MM ($138.6B), Goldman Sachs FS Treas Instruments ($133.3B), Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Govt ($109.3B), State Street Inst US Govt ($105.4B) and BlackRock Lq T-Fund ($86.4B). (Let us know if you'd like to see our latest domestic U.S. and/or "offshore" Weekly Portfolio Holdings collection and summary, or our Bond Fund Portfolio Holdings data series.)
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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.)
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.)
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.)
Crane Data's September Money Fund Portfolio Holdings, with data as of August 31, 2024, show that Other (mostly Time Deposits), Treasuries and Agencies jumped while Repo holdings dropped last month. Money market securities held by Taxable U.S. money funds (tracked by Crane Data) increased by $57.2 billion to $6.494 trillion in August, after increasing $90.4 billion in July, decreasing by $0.4 billion in June, increasing $105.6 billion in May but decreasing $61.4 billion in April. Treasuries increased by $85.8 billion, moving them into the No. 1 spot for largest portfolio segment. Repo, now the second largest segment, decreased $40.2 billion in August after decreasing $21.5 billion in July but increasing $99.3 billion in June. 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. (Note: We still have a few seats left for our European Money Fund Symposium next week, Sept. 19-20, in London! We look forward to seeing you next week in England!)
Among taxable money funds, Treasury securities increased $85.8 billion (3.5%) to $2.539 trillion, or 39.1% of holdings, after increasing $24.3 billion in July, decreasing $17.3 billion in June and increasing $51.0 billion in May. Repurchase Agreements (repo) decreased $40.2 billion (-1.6%) to $2.519 trillion, or 38.8% of holdings, in August, after decreasing $21.5 billion in July, but increasing $99.3 billion in June and $26.8 billion in May. Government Agency Debt was up $11.2 billion, or 1.5%, to $758.2 billion, or 11.7% of holdings. Agencies increased $22.9 billion in July, decreased $16.9 billion in June, and increased $19.9 billion in May. Repo, Treasuries and Agency holdings now total $5.815 trillion, representing a massive 89.6% of all taxable holdings.
Money fund holdings of Other (Time Deposits) and CP increased in August while CD fell. Commercial Paper (CP) increased $4.5 billion (1.6%) to $281.2 billion, or 4.3% of holdings. CP holdings increased $8.2 billion in July, but decreased $2.0 billion in June and $2.8 billion in May. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) decreased $13.9 billion (-6.9%) to $186.8 billion, or 2.9% of taxable assets. CDs increased $6.9 billion in July, but decreased $5.6 billion in June and $15.8 billion in May. Other holdings, primarily Time Deposits, increased $9.3 billion (5.0%) to $197.6 billion, or 3.0% of holdings, after increasing $49.0 billion in July, decreasing $57.5 billion in June and increasing $26.2 billion in May. VRDNs increased to $12.9 billion, or 0.2% of assets. (Note: This total is VRDNs for taxable funds only. We will post our Tax Exempt MMF holdings separately Thursday around noon.)
Prime money fund assets tracked by Crane Data decreased to $1.141 trillion, or 17.6% of taxable money funds' $6.494 trillion total. Among Prime money funds, CDs represent 16.4% (down from 17.1% a month ago), while Commercial Paper accounted for 24.6% (up from 23.6% in July). The CP totals are comprised of: Financial Company CP, which makes up 16.8% of total holdings, Asset-Backed CP, which accounts for 6.5%, and Non-Financial Company CP, which makes up 1.3%. Prime funds also hold 0.4% in US Govt Agency Debt, 3.6% in US Treasury Debt, 20.2% in US Treasury Repo, 0.8% in Other Instruments, 14.6% in Non-Negotiable Time Deposits, 7.7% in Other Repo, 10.4% in US Government Agency Repo and 0.9% in VRDNs.
Government money fund portfolios totaled $3.553 trillion (54.7% of all MMF assets), up from $3.503 trillion in July, while Treasury money fund assets totaled another $1.799 trillion (27.7%), up from $1.762 trillion the prior month. Government money fund portfolios were made up of 21.2% US Govt Agency Debt, 16.8% US Government Agency Repo, 32.6% US Treasury Debt, 28.8% in US Treasury Repo, 0.4% in Other Instruments. Treasury money funds were comprised of 74.4% US Treasury Debt and 25.5% in US Treasury Repo. Government and Treasury funds combined now total $5.353 trillion, or 82.4% of all taxable money fund assets.
European-affiliated holdings (including repo) decreased by $40.2 billion in August to $757.7 billion; their share of holdings fell to 11.7% from last month's 12.4%. Eurozone-affiliated holdings decreased to $494.0 billion from last month's $510.9 billion; they account for 7.6% of overall taxable money fund holdings. Asia & Pacific related holdings fell to $320.6 billion (4.9% of the total) from last month's $336.1 billion. Americas related holdings rose to $5.406 trillion from last month's $5.293 trillion, and now represent 83.3% of holdings.
The overall taxable fund Repo totals were made up of: US Treasury Repurchase Agreements (down $33.1 billion, or -1.9%, to $1.714 trillion, or 26.4% of assets); US Government Agency Repurchase Agreements (down $1.0 billion, or -0.1%, to $716.5 billion, or 11.0% of total holdings), and Other Repurchase Agreements (down $6.2 billion, or -6.6%, from last month to $87.9 billion, or 1.4% of holdings). The Commercial Paper totals were comprised of Financial Company Commercial Paper (up $5.8 billion to $191.8 billion, or 3.0% of assets), Asset Backed Commercial Paper (unchanged at $74.2 billion, or 1.1%), and Non-Financial Company Commercial Paper (down $1.3 billion to $15.3 billion, or 0.2%).
The 20 largest Issuers to taxable money market funds as of August 31, 2024, include: the US Treasury ($2.539T, 39.1%), Fixed Income Clearing Corp ($634.0B, 9.8%), Federal Home Loan Bank ($601.4B, 9.3%), the Federal Reserve Bank of New York ($389.8B, or 6.0%), JP Morgan ($220.7B, 3.4%), Citi ($160.0B, 2.5%), BNP Paribas ($147.8B, 2.3%), RBC ($144.4B, 2.2%), Federal Farm Credit Bank ($135.5B, 2.1%), Goldman Sachs ($110.4B, 1.7%), Bank of America ($104.2B, 1.6%), Barclays PLC ($99.4B, 1.5%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc ($82.4B, 1.3%), Wells Fargo ($70.4B, 1.1%), Credit Agricole ($68.3B, 1.1%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp ($59.5B, 0.9%), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ($59.5B, 0.9%), Toronto-Dominion Bank ($55.7B, 0.9%), Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd ($51.3B, 0.8%) and Bank of Montreal ($50.8B, 0.8%).
In the repo space, the 10 largest Repo counterparties (dealers) with the amount of repo outstanding and market share (among the money funds we track) include: Fixed Income Clearing Corp ($618.0B, 24.5%), the Federal Reserve Bank of New York ($389.8B, 15.5%), JP Morgan ($212.8B, 8.5%), Citi ($149.7B, 5.9%), BNP Paribas ($136.9B, 5.4%), RBC ($117.7B, 4.7%), Goldman Sachs ($110.2B, 4.4%), Bank of America ($86.3B, 3.4%), Barclays PLC ($81.6B, 3.2%) and Wells Fargo ($66.6B, 2.6%).
The largest users of the $389.8 billion in Fed RRP include: Vanguard Federal Money Mkt Fund ($69.4B), Fidelity Cash Central Fund ($39.9B), Goldman Sachs FS Govt ($24.7B), Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund ($21.7B), Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal MM ($21.6B), Fidelity Sec Lending Cash Central Fund ($21.0B), Fidelity Inv MM: MM Port ($12.6B), Fidelity Inv MM: Govt Port ($11.7B), Dreyfus Govt Cash Mgmt ($11.5B) and Fidelity Money Market ($11.3B).
The 10 largest issuers of "credit" -- CDs, CP and Other securities (including Time Deposits and Notes) combined -- include: Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd ($31.4B, 5.2%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc ($30.8B, 5.1%), Toronto-Dominion Bank ($29.4B, 4.9%), RBC ($26.7B, 4.5%), ING Bank ($24.0B, 4.0%), Credit Agricole ($22.5B, 3.8%), Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB ($22.4B, 3.7%), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ($22.4B, 3.7%), DNB ASA ($21.1B, 3.5%) and Bank of Montreal ($20.8B, 3.5%).
The 10 largest CD issuers include: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc ($24.8B, 13.3%), Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank ($12.7B, 6.8%), Bank of America ($11.7B, 6.3%), Toronto-Dominion Bank ($11.5B, 6.2%), Credit Agricole ($11.3B, 6.1%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp ($10.8B, 5.8%), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ($8.1B, 4.3%), Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd ($6.6B, 3.5%), Bank of Montreal ($6.1B, 3.3%) and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation ($5.5B, 3.0%).
The 10 largest CP issuers (we include affiliated ABCP programs) include: Toronto-Dominion Bank ($17.8B, 6.9%), RBC ($17.4B, 6.7%), Bank of Montreal ($13.3B, 5.1%), Barclays PLC ($11.4B, 4.4%), BSN Holdings Ltd ($10.6B, 4.1%), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ($10.1B, 3.9%), BPCE SA ($9.8B, 3.8%), ING Bank ($8.3B, 3.2%), JP Morgan ($7.9B, 3.0%), and Bank of Nova Scotia ($7.8B, 3.0%).
The largest increases among Issuers include: US Treasury (up $85.8B to $2.539T), JP Morgan (up $19.6B to $220.7B), the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (up $9.1B to $389.8B), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (up $5.4B to $59.5B), Federal National Mortgage Association (up $4.5B to $10.3B), Nordea Bank (up $4.3B to $9.0B), National Bank of Canada (up $3.8B to $10.9B), Lloyds Banking Group (up $3.6B to $9.7B), RBC (up $3.6B to $144.4B) and BNP Paribas (up $3.5B to $147.8B).
The largest decreases among Issuers of money market securities (including Repo) in July were shown by: Barclays PLC (down $26.8B to $99.4B), Bank of America (down $21.0B to $104.2B), Fixed Income Clearing Corp (down $12.3B to $634.0B), Societe Generale (down $8.0B to $48.7B), Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd (down $6.1B to $51.3B), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (down $5.9B to $59.5B), Svenska Handelsbanken (down $5.7B to $9.9B), Natixis (down $4.2B to $24.6B), Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (down $4.2B to $9.5B) and Credit Agricole (down $4.1B to $68.3B).
The United States remained the largest segment of country-affiliations; it represents 77.9% of holdings, or $5.056 trillion. Canada (5.4%, $350.3B) was in second place, while France (4.8%, $310.5B) was No. 3. Japan (4.3%, $280.3B) occupied fourth place. The United Kingdom (2.8%, $184.0B) remained in fifth place. Netherlands (1.0%, $62.5B) was in sixth place, followed by Australia (0.7%, $46.0B), Germany (0.7%, $45.0B), Sweden (0.6%, $41.2B), and Spain (0.4%, $26.1B). (Note: Crane Data attributes Treasury and Government repo to the dealer's parent country of origin, though money funds themselves "look-through" and consider these U.S. government securities. All money market securities must be U.S. dollar-denominated.)
As of Aug. 31, 2024, Taxable money funds held 49.7% (down from 50.3%) of their assets in securities maturing Overnight, and another 10.1% maturing in 2-7 days (unchanged). Thus, 59.8% in total matures in 1-7 days. Another 9.7% matures in 8-30 days, while 12.3% matures in 31-60 days. Note that over three-quarters, or 81.8% of securities, mature in 60 days or less, the dividing line for use of amortized cost accounting under SEC regulations. The next bucket, 61-90 days, holds 6.8% of taxable securities, while 8.8% matures in 91-180 days, and just 2.7% matures beyond 181 days. (Visit our Content center to download, or contact us to request our latest Portfolio Holdings reports.)