Late last week, ICI released its latest "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing, May 2014," which told us that total money fund assets increased by $3.8 billion in May to $2.57 trillion after decreasing by $57.9 billion in April, dropping $29.6 billion in March, and falling $47.3 billion in February. For the 12 months through 5/31/14, ICI's monthly series shows assets down by $22.8 billion, or 0.9%. (Our "Link of the Day" Friday quoted ICI's weekly money fund survey, which showed assets rebounded slightly in the latest week, rising $5.1 billion to $2.56 trillion.) Below, we review ICI's latest monthly assets survey, as well as their May Portfolio Composition totals.
ICI's May "Trends"," says, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds increased by $243.5 billion, or 1.6%, to $15.44 trillion in May, according to the Investment Company Institute's official survey of the mutual fund industry. In the survey, mutual fund companies report actual assets, sales, and redemptions to ICI.... Bond funds had an inflow of $11.2 billion in May, compared with an inflow of $7.5 billion in April. Taxable bond funds had an inflow of $7.8 billion in May, versus an inflow of $6.4 billion in April. Municipal bond funds had an inflow of $3.5 billion in May compared to an inflow of $1.1 billion in April."
It adds, "Money market funds had an inflow of $3.1 billion in May, compared with an outflow of $58.0 billion in April. Funds offered primarily to institutions had an inflow of $3.6 billion. Funds offered primarily to individuals had an outflow of $494 million." Money funds represent 16.7% of all mutual fund assets while bond funds represent 22.2%.
ICI also released its latest "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds," which verified our reported jump in repo and CDs, and plunge in Treasuries, in May. (See Crane Data's June 12 News, "June Money Fund Portfolio Holdings Show Jump in Repo, Treasury Drop.") ICI's latest Portfolio Holdings summary shows that Holdings of Certificates of Deposits increased by $9.9 billion in May (after jumping $50.3 billion in April and declining by $54.1 billion in March) to $546.4 billion (or 23.5% of taxable MMF holdings). CDs remain the largest composition segment.
Repos rose by $33.5 billion, or 6.9%, (after plunging $38.4 billion in April, jumping by $41.7 billion in March, and declining by $11.6 billion in Feb.) to $509.9 billion (21.9% of assets. Repo remained the second largest segment of taxable money fund portfolio holdings in May, after being bumped out of first place in April, according to ICI's data series. Treasury Bills & Securities, the third largest segment, plummeted $29.7 billion in May (after plunging $52.7 billion in April, and increasing $1.6 billion in March and $7.8 billion in Feb.) to $379.8 billion (16.4%).
Commercial Paper, which decreased by $11.3 billion, or 3.1%, remained the fourth largest segment just ahead of U.S. Government Agency Securities. CP holdings totaled $354.9 billion (15.3% of assets) while Agencies grew by $7.0 billion to $323.4 billion (13.9%). Notes (including Corporate and Bank) fell by $1.4 billion to $91.4 billion (3.9% of assets), and Other holdings dropped by $7.8 billion to $73.1 billion (3.1%).
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's Holdings series for taxable money funds decreased by 128.8 thousand to 23.637 million, while the Number of Funds decreased by one to 378. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts fell by 893.5 thousand and the number of funds declined by 16. The Average Maturity of Portfolios declined by one day to 44 days in May. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money funds declined by 4 days.
The latest numbers from Crane's Money Fund Intelligence Daily show that total money fund assets are $2.45 trillion, down $16.2 billion month-to-date and down $152.4 billion (5.8%) year-to-date (through June 26). Over the last 7 days, money fund assets were up $8.8 billion. The Crane Money Fund Average, which tracks all taxable funds, has dropped $15.` billion month-to-date to $2.20 trillion through June 26. Year-to-date, the Crane Money Fund Average is down $137.5 billion, but over the last 7 days it's up $10.5 billion. The Crane 100 Money Fund Index, which tracks the 100 largest money funds, is down $14.3 billion MTD to $1.37 trillion. Year-to-date, the Crane 100 has decreased $101.4 billion. Further, the Crane Retail Money Fund Index has declined $5.3 billion MTD through June 26 to $763.6 billion and $29.7 billion YTD. The Crane Institutional Money Fund Index is down $9.8 billion to $1.4 trillion MTD and $107.8 billion YTD.
Note: Crane Data updated its June MFI XLS to reflect the 5/31/14 composition data and maturity breakouts for our entire fund universe on June 19. Note again too that we are now producing a "Holdings Reports Issuer Module," which allows subscribers to choose a series of Portfolio Holdings and Issuers and to see a full listing of which money funds own this paper. (Visit our Content Center and the latest Money Fund Portfolio Holdings download page to access the latest version of this new file.)
