Money market mutual fund assets rose for their 4th week in a row and for the 9th week out of the past eleven. The ICI's latest "Money Market Mutual Fund Assets" report says, "Total money market mutual fund assets increased by $8.53 billion to $2.632 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, July 17, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Taxable government funds increased by $7.92 billion, taxable non-government funds decreased by $130 million, and tax-exempt funds increased by $740 million." Assets moved back above the $2.6 trillion mark last week and reached their highest levels since March 2013 (prior to annual tax-related outflows). Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence Daily, which has a slightly smaller asset base than the ICI's series, confirms the consistent inflows, particularly since May 1.
Retail assets declined slightly in the latest week, but inflows from individual investors have fueled money funds' big gains since May 1. ICI's weekly assets show Retail funds, which represent 35.2% of all MMF assets, rising by $36 billion, or 4.0%, since May 1 while Institutional assets rose by $32 billion, or 1.9%. Money funds have clearly gained assets at the expense of bond funds, which have declined by over $75 billion over 6 straight weeks through July 10 (see ICI's Bond flows).
ICI's latest weekly explains, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $1.51 billion to $926.38 billion. Taxable government money market fund assets in the retail category decreased by $670 million to $198.61 billion [7.5% of assets], taxable non-government money market fund assets decreased by $970 million to $533.83 billion [20.3%], and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $130 million to $193.93 billion [7.4%]."
It adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $10.04 billion to $1.705 trillion [64.8% of assets]. Among institutional funds, taxable government money market fund assets increased by $8.59 billion to $723.83 billion [27.5%], taxable non-government money market fund assets increased by $830 million to $908.95 billion [34.5%], and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $620 million to $72.42 billion [2.7%]. ICI reports money market fund assets to the Federal Reserve each week."
In other news, Northern Trust reported Q2 earnings recently, and mentioned increases in money fund fee waivers. Their release commented, "C&IS investment management fees increased 3%, reflecting the favorable impact of markets and new business, partially offset by higher waived fees in money market mutual funds. Money market mutual fund fee waivers in C&IS, attributable to persistent low short-term interest rates, totaled $9.8 million in the current quarter, compared to waived fees of $7.0 million in the prior year quarter. Securities lending revenue increased slightly, reflecting higher loan volumes, partially offset by lower spreads in the current quarter."
Northern continued, "The increased fees in the current quarter are primarily attributable to the favorable impact of equity markets on fees and new business, partially offset by higher waived fees in money market mutual funds. Money market mutual fund fee waivers in PFS totaled $12.9 million in the current quarter compared with $10.0 million in the prior year quarter.... PFS trust, investment and other servicing fees were $293.1 million, up 4% from $282.0 million in the prior quarter, primarily driven by favorable equity markets and new business. Money market mutual fund fee waivers in PFS totaled $12.9 million in the current quarter, down slightly from $13.4 million in the prior quarter."
