Money market mutual funds declined modestly in the latest week but they remain slightly above their level on Aug. 10, the week following the resolution of the U.S. debt ceiling debate. ICI's latest weekly report says, "Total money market mutual fund assets decreased by $11.93 billion to $2.622 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, November 2, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Taxable government funds decreased by $670 million, taxable non-government funds decreased by $12.40 billion, and tax-exempt funds increased by $1.14 billion." Below, we also discuss this weekend's Association for Financial Professionals annual conference, the largest gathering of treasury professionals, which will attract a number of money funds, portals and cash investors to Boston, Mass., from Sunday, Nov. 6, through Wednesday, Nov. 9.
Year-to-date, money market mutual fund assets have declined by $188 billion, or 6.7%, and over the past 52 weeks money funds have declined by $178 billion, or 6.3%. Over the past 2 years (104 weeks), money fund assets have declined by $716 billion, or 21.5%, over the past 3 years (156 weeks) assets have declined by $994 billion, or 27.5%, but over 4 years (208 weeks) assets have declined by $339 billion, or 11.4% (according to ICI's weekly series).
ICI's new weekly says, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $1.39 billion to $935.98 billion. Taxable government money market fund assets in the retail category decreased by $1.57 billion to $196.35 billion, taxable non-government money market fund assets decreased by $930 million to $546.00 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $1.11 billion to $193.63 billion. Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $10.55 billion to $1.686 trillion. Among institutional funds, taxable government money market fund assets increased by $900 million to $698.70 billion, taxable non-government money market fund assets decreased by $11.48 billion to $893.36 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $30 million to $94.41 billion."
In other news, this Sunday, Crane Data will join thousands of corporate treasury professionals and representatives from over 25 money market mutual fund managers and trading "portals" at the AFP Annual Conference. Look for a number of press releases and news accompanying the start of the conference early next week, and watch for our interview with State Street's Fund Connect portal on the launch of their Transparency Connect module in the pending November issue of Money Fund Intelligence. (We plan to publish MFI and our Oct. 31 performance data on Saturday, Nov. 5, since we'll be exhibiting at the conference Sunday through Tuesday.)
As we mentioned in our October 20 "Link of the Day," there are a number of sessions involving money market mutual funds and cash investing at AFP, including: "Under the Cash Hood: Looking Beyond Yield at Money Market Mutual Fund Holdings" by Crane Data's Peter Crane and Genzyme's Coleman Nee, Jr.; "Evaluating Risk in Money Market Funds" with BofA Funds' Dale Albright; "The Role of Commercial Paper in Short Term Markets: An Essential Source of Financing and Investing" with JPMorgan's John Kodweis; and, "How to Conduct a Due Diligence Meeting with a Money Market Fund Complex" with Morgan Stanley's Michael Cha.
Finally, note that the full agenda is now posted and registration is open for Crane's Money Fund University, a "basic training" in money markets and money funds, which will take place January 19-20, 2012, at the Hyatt Regency in Boston. The preliminary agenda for Crane's Money Fund Symposium will be released later this month and registration is now open at www.moneyfundsymposium.com. We also are in discussions to participate in a European Money Fund event later in 2012, so look for details on this too.
