Money fund assets increased for the sixth straight week this week and increased for the fourth straight month in November, according to the latest statistics from the Investment Company Institute and Crane Data. ICI released its latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report Wednesday (instead of its normal Thursday) and its latest monthly "Trends" report for October on Tuesday. Both show assets increasing, while Crane's Money Fund Intelligence Daily shows assets rising by $27.4 billion month-to-date in November (through Nov. 25). Below, we review recent asset flows, ICI's latest Trends report, and ICI's monthly Portfolio Composition figures.
Over the past 6 weeks, money fund assets have increased by $53.0 billion, or 2.0%, and they've increased by $97.0 billion, or 3.8%, since July 23, when the SEC passed its latest round of Money Market Fund Reforms. ICI's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $8.43 billion to $2.66 trillion for the six-day period ended Tuesday, November 25, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, Treasury funds (including agency and repo) increased by $6.29 billion and prime funds increased by $3.88 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $1.75 billion." Year-to-date, ICI's weekly asset series shows money fund assets down by $56 billion, or 2.1%.
ICI's weekly adds, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $2.70 billion to $897.12 billion. Among retail funds, Treasury money market fund assets decreased by $790 million to $198.50 billion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $1.44 billion to $514.59 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $470 million to $184.04 billion. Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $11.13 billion to $1.77 trillion. Among institutional funds, Treasury money market fund assets increased by $7.08 billion to $773.99 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $5.33 billion to $922.80 billion (34.7% of all assets), and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $1.28 billion to $68.40 billion."
ICI's latest "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing, October 2014" shows that total money fund assets increased by $19.1 billion in October to $2.623 trillion. ICI's monthly statistics show that MMF assets increased by $22.7B in September, and $34.0 billion in August, but decreased by $16.1 billion in July and $17 billion in June. Year-to-date through Sept. 30, ICI's monthly series shows money fund assets nearly flat, down by just $45.6 billion, or 0.7%.
ICI's Trends" release says, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds increased by $196.67 billion, or 1.3 percent, to $15.76 trillion in October, 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 outflow of $6.17 billion in October, compared with an outflow of $19.37 billion in September."
ICI adds, "Money market funds had an inflow of $19.07 billion in October, compared with an inflow of $22.35 billion in September. In October funds offered primarily to institutions had an inflow of $19.87 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an outflow of $800 million." Money funds represent 16.7% of all mutual fund assets while bond funds represent 22.2%.
Our MFI Daily also indicates that November will be the fourth straight month of asset increases for money funds, with assets up by $27.4 billion through Nov. 25. It shows that Prime Institutional money fund assets, which should be the most impacted by the SEC's recent reforms, have increased by $21.7 billion month-to-date to $851.3 billion after rising $23.8 billion in October and $5.3 billion in September. Prime Institutional assets have increased by $54.5 billion since July 23, when assets stood at $796.8 billion, belying predictions of outflows accompanying the new rules.
ICI also released its latest "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds," which showed sizable increases in CDs and Commercial Paper in October. (See Crane Data's Nov. 12 News, "Nov. Port. Holdings Show Spike in Time Deposits, CP; Drop in Repo.") ICI's latest Portfolio Holdings summary shows that Holdings of CDs (including Eurodollar) increased by $78.9 billion, or 14.1%, in October to $638.0 billion, (after dropping $53.5 billion in September, rising by $7.2 billion in August and $71.9 billion in July). They represent 26.9% of assets and replace Repos as the largest composition segment. Repos decreased $73.3 billion, or 12.5%, in October (after increasing by $75.1 billion in September, $11.5 billion in August, and $59.9 billion in July) to $512.1 billion (or 21.6% of taxable MMF holdings).
Treasury Bills & Securities, which decreased by $18.1 billion, or 4.5%, remained the third largest segment. Treasury holdings totaled $380.0 billion (16.0% of assets). Commercial Paper moved up to the fourth largest segment, jumping ahead of US Government Agency Securities. Commercial Paper increased by $12.1 billion, or 3.6%, (after dropping $19.8 billion in September, $3.0 billion in August, and $16.7 billion in July) to $349.2 billion. They represent 14.7% of assets. U.S. Government Agency Securities fell to fifth place, decreasing by $9.3 billion, (2.6%) in October to $343.0 billion (14.5% of assets). Notes (including Corporate and Bank) grew by $3.6 billion, or 5%, to $75.9 billion (3.2% of assets), and Other holdings increased by $2.1 billion to $51.0 billion (2.2% of assets).
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's Holdings series for taxable money funds decreased by 105.4 thousand to 23.548 million, while the Number of Funds decreased by 3 to 366. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts fell by 574.7 thousand and the number of funds declined by 20. The Average Maturity of Portfolios increased by 2 days to 47 days October. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money funds declined by 2 days.
Note: Crane Data updated its November MFI XLS to reflect the 10/31/14 composition data and maturity breakouts for our entire fund universe last week. 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.)
