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Institutional MF Assets Break $2 Trillion, Driving Totals to New Record. Money fund assets jumped again in the latest week, rising $13.55 billion to an all-time record $3.189 trillion in the week ended Wednesday said the ICI. Institutional money fund assets increased by just $2.47 billion. But the gain, plus asset revisions by ICI, pushed this week's (and last week's) institutional totals past $2 trillion for the first time ever. Corporate inflows were temporarily weakened by a Jan. 15 tax payment date, but they should resume with a vengeance as the market "gets short" ahead of an expected January 31 1/2-point rate cut. Retail money funds rose by $11.84 billion to a record $1.184 trillion. "Prime" or general purpose money funds took in $15.0 billion while Treasury and Government money funds lost $1.8 billion as investors continue to unwind their "flight-to-safety" moves made during the height of the SIV panic. (Read about the sharp rebound in the Fed's asset-backed commercial paper asset totals in today's "Link of the Day".) ICI currently tracks 2,017 money funds in total, with 1,171 classified as institutional and 846 classified as retail.
