MMF Assets Dip, But Prime Up Again
The Investment Company Institute's latest "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows that overall money fund assets dipped but that Prime money market funds rose for the second week in a row. Prime MMFs have risen by $37.5 billion, or 9.0%, over the past 19 weeks, and they've risen by $83.2 billion, or 22.5%, year-to-date. ICI writes, "Total money market fund assets decreased by $1.41 billion to $2.74 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, November 15, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, government funds decreased by $4.81 billion and prime funds increased by $3.30 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $96 million." Total Government MMF assets, which include Treasury funds too, stand at $2.157 trillion (78.8% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs stand at $452.9 billion (16.5% of total MMFs). Tax Exempt MMFs total $129.2 billion, or 4.7%. They explain, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $2.89 billion to $985.45 billion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $2.11 billion to $597.67 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $277 million to $264.31 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $497 million to $123.47 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 36.0%, and Government Retail assets make up 60.6% of all Retail MMFs. ICI's release adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $4.29 billion to $1.75 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $6.92 billion to $1.56 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $3.03 billion to $188.59 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $401 million to $5.72 billion." Institutional assets account for 64.0% of all MMF assets, with Government Inst assets making up 88.9% of all Institutional MMFs.
