ICI: MMF Assets Break $5.7 Trillion
The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows MMF assets breaking over $5.7 trillion for the first time ever. ICI's weekly asset series jumped to $5.708 trillion; it has broken records in 9 out of the past 12 weeks. Assets are up by $973 billion, or 20.6%, year-to-date in 2023, with Institutional MMFs up $491 billion, or 16.1% and Retail MMFs up $482 billion, or 28.8%. Over the past 52 weeks, money funds have risen a massive $1.130 trillion, or 24.7%, with Retail MMFs rising by $617 billion (40.0%) and Inst MMFs rising by $513 billion (16.9%). The release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $64.13 billion to $5.71 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, October 4, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $52.59 billion and prime funds increased by $7.02 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $4.52 billion." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs surging $37.4 billion and Retail MMFs jumping $26.8 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $4.688 trillion (82.1% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $899.9 billion (15.8%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $120.3 billion (2.1%). ICI explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $26.77 billion to $2.16 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $15.39 billion to $1.42 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $7.79 billion to $635.07 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $3.59 billion to $108.48 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 37.8%, and Government Retail assets make up 65.6% of all Retail MMFs. They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $37.35 billion to $3.55 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $37.19 billion to $3.27 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $773 million to $264.80 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $932 million to $11.86 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 62.2% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 92.2% of all Institutional MMF totals. According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets broke the $6.1 trillion level and hit a record $6.108 trillion on Tuesday, Oct. 3, before easing back to $6.096 trillion Wednesday (10/4). Assets have risen by $23.3 billion in October through 10/4 after rising by $93.9 billion in Sept., $98.3 billion in August and $34.7 billion in July. Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're over $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.
