MF Assets Highest Since May 2010
The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets moved higher for the second week in a row, and Prime balances jumped again. Money fund assets are entering one of the strongest seasonal periods of the year, so we expect inflows to remain strong throughout August. They're now up $26 billion, or 0.9%, YTD, and they've increased by $171 billion, or 6.3%, over 52 weeks. ICI writes, "Total money market fund assets increased by $12.99 billion to $2.86 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, August 8, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $4.66 billion and prime funds increased by $9.53 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $1.20 billion." Total Government MMF assets, which include Treasury funds too, stand at $2.223 trillion (77.6% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs stand at $511.1 billion (17.8%). Tax Exempt MMFs total $129.9 billion, or 4.5%. They explain, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $5.98 billion to $1.05 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $1.79 billion to $630.80 billion, prime money market fund assets increased by $5.18 billion to $292.92 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $990 million to $121.59 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 36.5%, and Government Retail assets make up 60.3% of all Retail MMFs. ICI's release adds, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $7.00 billion to $1.82 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $2.86 billion to $1.59 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $4.35 billion to $218.17 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $207 million to $8.30 billion." Institutional assets account for 63.5% of all MMF assets, with Government Inst assets making up 87.5% of all Institutional MMFs.
