The Investment Company Institute released its latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" and "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds" for November 2022 Thursday. ICI's monthly "Trends" report shows that money fund assets increased $63.4 billion in November to $4.671 trillion. Meanwhile, bond fund assets bounced back from recent steep declines, increasing by $120.3 billion to $4.565 trillion. Money fund assets, which surpassed bond fund assets in September for the first time since 2010, remain larger than bond funds. have declined by over $1.1 trillion over the past 12 months. (The bond fund totals don't include bond ETFs, which total $1.261 trillion as of 11/30, according to ICI.)
Money funds' November asset increase follows a gain of $36.8 billion in October, $4.2 billion in Sept., a decrease of $6.4 billion in August, and increases of $34.3 billion in July and $25.0 billion in June. MMFs decreased $8.0 billion in May and $71.0 billion in April. They increased $9.6 billion in March, decreased $38.3 billion in February, and decreased $136.1 billion in January. For the 12 months through Nov. 30, 2022, money fund assets increased by $51.6 billion, or 1.1%. (For the month of December through 12/28, MMF assets have increased by $44.4 billion to $5.157 trillion according to Crane's MFI XLS, which tracks a broader universe of funds than ICI. Crane Data's Prime asset totals have increased by $36.0 billion in December to $1.066 trillion.)
ICI's monthly release states, "The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds increased by $958.09 billion, or 4.4%, to $22.83 trillion in November, 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 $34.52 billion in November, compared with an outflow of $58.68 billion in October.... Money market funds had an inflow of $56.33 billion in November, compared with an inflow of $31.10 billion in October. In November funds offered primarily to institutions had an inflow of $21.66 billion and funds offered primarily to individuals had an inflow of $34.67 billion. "
The Institute's latest statistics show that Taxable funds were higher and Tax Exempt MMFs were lower last month. Taxable MMFs increased by $66.3 billion in November to $4.563 trillion. Tax-Exempt MMFs dropped $2.9 billion to $108.4 billion. Taxable MMF assets increased year-over-year by $30.2 billion (0.7%), and Tax-Exempt funds rose by $21.5 billion over the past year (24.7%). Bond fund assets rose by $120.3 billion (after plummeting by $88.1 billion in Oct.) to $4.565 trillion; they've decreased by $1.064 trillion (-18.9%) over the past year.
Money funds represent 20.5% of all mutual fund assets (down 0.6% from the previous month), while bond funds account for 20.0%, according to ICI. The total number of money market funds was 292, up one from the prior month and down from 307 a year ago. Taxable money funds numbered 237 funds, and tax-exempt money funds numbered 55 funds.
ICI's "Month-End Portfolio Holdings" confirm yet another jump in Repo and plunge in Treasuries last month. Repurchase Agreements remained the largest composition segment in November, increasing $7.1 billion, or 0.3%, to $2.489 trillion, or 54.5% of holdings. Repo holdings have increased $373.5 billion, or 17.7%, over the past year. (See our Dec. 12 News, "` Dec. MF Portfolio Holdings: Agencies Jump; Treasuries and Repo Drop <i:https://cranedata.com/archives/all-articles/9561/>`_.")
Treasury holdings in Taxable money funds fell again, but they remained the second largest composition segment. Treasury holdings plunged $52.1 billion, or -4.5%, to $1.113 trillion, or 24.4% of holdings. Treasury securities have decreased by $584.0 billion, or -34.4%, over the past 12 months. U.S. Government Agency securities were the third largest segment; they increased $37.3 billion, or 7.7%, to $518.8 billion, or 11.4% of holdings. Agency holdings have increased by $116.4 billion, or 28.9%, over the past 12 months.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs) remained in fourth place; they increased by $8.9 billion, or 4.2%, to $218.3 billion (4.8% of assets). CDs held by money funds rose by $37.1 billion, or 20.5%, over 12 months. Commercial Paper remained in fifth place, up $9.1 billion, or 5.4%, to $176.8 billion (3.9% of assets). CP increased $28.5 billion, or 19.2%, over one year. Other holdings decreased to $15.9 billion (0.3% of assets), while Notes (including Corporate and Bank) inched up to $6.0 billion (0.1% of assets).
The Number of Accounts Outstanding in ICI's series for taxable money funds increased to 59.716 million, while the Number of Funds rose by one fund to 237. Over the past 12 months, the number of accounts rose by 12.375 million and the number of funds decreased by 10. The Average Maturity of Portfolios was a record low 15 days, unchanged from October. Over the past 12 months, WAMs of Taxable money have decreased by 22.
