MFI Daily Data
Northern Institutional Funds filed to liquidate its $1.7 billion Northern Prime Obligations Portfolio earlier this week, we learned from Bloomberg. The filing says, "The Board of Trustees (the 'Board') of Northern Institutional Funds (the 'Trust') has determined, after consideration of a number of factors, that it is in the best interests of the Prime Obligations Portfolio (the 'Portfolio') and its shareholders that the Portfolio be liquidated and terminated on or about July 10, 2020 (the 'Liquidation Date') pursuant to a plan of liquidation approved by the Board. The Liquidation Date may be changed at the discretion of the Trust's officers. The pending liquidation of the Portfolio may be terminated and/or abandoned at any time before the Liquidation Date by action of the Board of the Trust. As of the date of this supplement, Williams Capital Shares of the Portfolio have not commenced operations and are not offered for purchase." (The fund's assets are down from $3.8 billion on Feb. 28, 2020.)
The Bloomberg piece, "Northern Trust to Shutter Money-Market Fund After Redemptions," tells us, "Northern Trust Corp. is shutting down a money-market mutual fund after volatility in March spurred redemptions that sent it below a regulatory threshold for maintaining liquidity. The $1.7 billion Northern Institutional Prime Obligations Portfolio will stop accepting new investments next month and start selling its holdings under a liquidation plan set for July 10, according to a filing."
Reuters, in a March 23 article,"Fed's Money Market Move Lifts Northern Trust Fund Above Key Threshhold," wrote, "Liquidity at a $2.2 billion prime money-market fund run by Northern Trust Corp fell below the key 30% U.S. regulatory threshold twice last week, but rebounded above that level after the U.S. Federal Reserve shored up the industry. As the coronavirus roils the global economy and squeezes Wall Street for cash, money-market reforms put in place after the 2007-2009 financial crisis are weathering a major test."
They explained, "Several institutional prime funds, whose investors include large corporations, were at risk of falling below the 30% threshold before the Fed took extraordinary steps reminiscent of the last financial crisis to backstop the money-market industry." The Northern Prime Obligations Portfolio disclosed that its weekly liquidity level fell to 27% of assets twice last week, according to the fund's website -- reducing its buffer for quickly converting assets into cash to meet investors' redemptions. However, Chicago-based Northern Trust, a bank and wealth manager, said on Monday the latest weekly liquidity level for the fund was nearly 41%."
In other news, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published an update on the "The Primary Dealer Credit Facility" via its Liberty Street Economics blog. They write, "On March 17, 2020, the Federal Reserve announced that it would re-establish the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF) to allow primary dealers to support smooth market functioning and facilitate the availability of credit to businesses and households. The PDCF started offering overnight and term funding with maturities of up to ninety days on March 20. It will be in place for at least six months and may be extended as conditions warrant. In this post, we provide an overview of the PDCF and its usage to date."
The NY Fed writes, "Lending rose quickly after the PDCF's launch, and the weekly average of outstanding loans peaked at over $35 billion for the week ending April 15.... Outstanding loans remained in the $30-35 billion range for a few weeks, before decreasing recently, as market conditions improved. The vast majority of value-weighted PDCF loans have a maturity longer than overnight.... The bulk of the assets financed in the PDCF to date have been corporate and municipal debt, as well as asset-backed securities and commercial paper. These are asset classes that were experiencing considerable volatility and pressure in early March. Market conditions have improved markedly since the introduction of a variety of Fed interventions, including the PDCF."
They explain, "The Federal Reserve initially established the PDCF in March of 2008, following severe strains in the tri-party repo market, associated in part with Bear Stearns' troubles.... Following its inception in March 2008, usage of the original PDCF increased to approximately $40 billion, before decreasing to zero by mid-2008.... This $40 billion level is roughly comparable to the peak usage of today's PDCF. Usage of the original PDCF increased to over $140 billion in September 2008, following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. This peak is much higher than the current use of today's PDCF. However, the range of collateral eligible for the PDCF post-Lehman was much broader than the range of eligible collateral at the PDCF today, making comparisons difficult."
The piece adds, "The PDCF is one of many facilities introduced by the Federal Reserve to support the U.S. economy in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The PDCF helps primary dealers support smooth market functioning and facilitate the availability of credit to businesses and households in their capacity as market makers for corporate, consumer, and municipal obligations." For more, see these previous Liberty Street Economics blogs: "The Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility" and "The Commercial Paper Funding Facility."
Finally, Crane Data published its latest Weekly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics Tuesday, which track a shifting subset of our monthly Portfolio Holdings collection. The most recent cut (with data as of May 15) includes Holdings information from 80 money funds (up two from two weeks ago), which represent $2.664 trillion (up from $2.568 trillion) of the $5.123 trillion (52.0%) in total money fund assets tracked by Crane Data. (Note that our Weekly MFPH are e-mail only and aren't available on the website. For our latest monthly Holdings, see our May 12 News, "May MF Portfolio Holdings: Treasuries Skyrocket, Repo Plunges in April.)
Our latest Weekly MFPH Composition summary again shows Government assets dominating the holdings list with Treasury totaling $1.344 trillion (up from $1.209 trillion two weeks ago), or 50.4%, Repurchase Agreements (Repo) totaling $635.7 billion (down from $706.4 billion two weeks ago), or 23.9% and Government Agency securities totaling $470.7 billion (up from $470.4 billion), or 17.7%. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) totaled $70.7 billion (up from $48.7 billion), or 2.7% and Commercial Paper (CP) totaled $59.2 billion (up from $58.7 billion), or 2.2%. A total of $46.9 billion or 1.8%, was listed in the Other category (primarily Time Deposits), and VRDNs accounted for $37.6 billion, or 1.4%.
The Ten Largest Issuers in our Weekly Holdings product include: the US Treasury with $1.344 trillion (50.4% of total holdings), Federal Home Loan Bank with $289.3B (10.9%), Fixed Income Clearing Co with $99.9B (3.7%), Federal Farm Credit Bank with $69.9B (2.6%), BNP Paribas with $69.5B (2.6%), Federal National Mortgage Association with $57.5B (2.2%), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp with $51.3B (1.9%), JP Morgan with $49.5B (1.9%), RBC with $46.8B (1.8%) and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc with $30.0B (1.1%).
The Ten Largest Funds tracked in our latest Weekly include: JP Morgan US Govt ($228.4B), Goldman Sachs FS Govt ($217.0B), Fidelity Inv MM: Govt Port ($194.3B), BlackRock Lq FedFund ($175.5B), JPMorgan 100% US Treas MMkt ($142.3B), Wells Fargo Govt MM ($138.6B), Goldman Sachs FS Treas Instruments ($133.3B), Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Govt ($109.3B), State Street Inst US Govt ($105.4B) and BlackRock Lq T-Fund ($86.4B). (Let us know if you'd like to see our latest domestic U.S. and/or "offshore" Weekly Portfolio Holdings collection and summary, or our Bond Fund Portfolio Holdings data series.)
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MFI Daily Data News
Jun 05
The June issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Friday morning, features the articles: "Money Fund Assets Resume Record Run; Yields Bottom," which reviews the latest jump in assets and flattening of yields; "BNY, JPM, BlackRock Launch 'OnChain' Tokenized MMFs," which discusses the latest money fund filings; and "European Regulators Push to Increase MF Liquidity Levels," which covers new U.K. and European proposals to strengthen MMF requirements. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Friday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 5/31/26 data. Our June Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Tuesday, June 9, and our June Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Friday, June 12. (Note: Register ASAP for our upcoming Money Fund Symposium, which will take place later this month -- June 24-26 in Jersey City, NJ!)
MFI's "Money Fund Assets" story says, "Money fund assets rebounded strongly in May, rising $193.2 billion to a record $8.292 trillion, according to our Money Fund Intelligence XLS data series. Our Money Fund Intelligence Daily shows money fund assets have increased by another $54.2 billion to $8.346 trillion month-to-date in June (as of 6/4)."
It continues, "According to MFI Daily, assets fell by $108.8 billion in April and $49.3 billion in March. But they increased $99.5 billion in February, $32.9 billion in January, $126.3 billion in December and $132.8 billion in November. MMFs rose $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose $63.7 billion in July and $6.7 billion last June."
We write in our "OnChain" article, "BNY Dreyfus filed to launch an 'onchain' tokenized money market fund, while J.P. Morgan recently went live with its OnChain Liquidity-Token MMF. The SEC filing for BNY Dreyfus On-Chain Liquidity Fund, under the Dreyfus Government Cash Management Funds umbrella, says, 'The fund seeks as high a level of current income as is consistent with the preservation of capital and the maintenance of liquidity."
The story continues, "The fund pursues its investment objective by investing in (i) U.S. Treasury bills, notes, or bonds ..., (ii) overnight repurchase agreements collateralized solely by U.S. Treasury securities and/or cash, and (iii) cash. The fund is a money market fund subject to the maturity, quality, liquidity and diversification requirements of Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and seeks to maintain a stable share price of $1.00. The U.S. Treasury securities in which the fund invests have a remaining maturity of 93 days or less or are issued with a maturity of 93 days or less.'"
Our "European" story says, "The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which regulates markets in the U.K., published a policy paper titled, 'Reforms to Money Market Fund Regulations.' It states, 'Money market funds (MMFs) play an important role in the financial system. MMFs are widely used for cash management and provide an alternative or complement to bank deposits for a broad range of investors, including asset managers, insurers, pension funds, large corporates and local authorities. However, recent periods of market stress have highlighted the need to strengthen the resilience of these funds. The Government, together with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England, have worked actively with international partners, including with the European Commission and at the Financial Stability Board, to enhance MMF resilience so these funds are better able to withstand market disruption.'"
It continues, "The post explains, 'As part of this, the Government and FCA committed to reforming the UK Money Market Fund Regulation (MMFR) regime, to ensure the UK’s regulatory framework appropriately supports the resilience of these markets while maintaining our international competitiveness. These reforms mark an important step forward in enhancing the resilience of the wider non-bank financial sector.'"
MFI also includes the News brief, "Bloomberg: 'Dash for Cash Sends Money-Fund Assets to Record $8.3 Trillion.' The article states, 'Investors boosted the total amount in U.S. money-market funds to a record $8.281 trillion as uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve's monetary policy path fuels demand for cash-like assets. Some $66 billion rushed into the money-market fund industry in the week ending May 28, according to the latest figures from Crane Data LLC.'"
Another News brief, "Barron's Writes Again on Sweeps," tells us, "The article, 'How AI Could Kill Charles Schwab and the Brokerage Industry's Cash Cow,' says, 'Charles Schwab spent a good chunk of its six-hour-long investor day ... explaining to analysts and shareholders how the company is using artificial intelligence to boost its business. Investors, however, are far more focused on whether AI poses a threat to the substantial profits Schwab derives from so-called sweep cash.'"
A third News brief, "Dreyfus Rebrands as BNY Dreyfus," tells us, "A statement, '`BNY Investments Dreyfus Money Market Rebrand,' says, 'Effective May 29, 2026, Dreyfus money market funds will update names, adding ‘BNY’ to recognize the depth of expertise, technology and history brought by Dreyfus as a vital component of the BNY ecosystem. These are part of the BNY Investments Dreyfus family of funds.' (See also, 'Introducing SPARK Future Shares: A New Way to Align Cash with Client Values.')"
A sidebar, "New UBS Stablecoin Reserves," says, "A filing for the UBS Liquid Reserves Fund explains, 'The fund invests only in certain eligible reserve assets that payment stablecoin issuers are permitted to maintain under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (the 'GENIUS Act') and any regulations adopted thereunder. These eligible reserve assets include ... cash, securities issued by the US Treasury with a remaining maturity of 93 days or less ... and overnight repurchase agreements.... The fund primarily intends to serve as a reserve asset for stablecoin issuers.... Shares of the fund are expected to be held primarily by one or more stablecoin issuers as all or a portion of the reserve assets that back the outstanding stablecoins issued to their customers.'"
Our June MFI XLS, with May 31 data, shows total assets jumping $193.2 billion to $8.292 trillion, after decreasing $102.1 billion in April, $56.6 billion in March, increasing $94.0 billion in February, $38.5 billion in January, $123.5 billion in December, $129.3 billion in November, $141.5 billion in October, $100.4 billion in September, $129.9 billion in August, $69.0 billion in July, and $10.1 billion last June.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 3 bps at 3.34%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was down 2 bps at 3.45% in May. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 3.70% and 3.71%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.36% and 0.26% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 5/31/26 on Monday, 6/8.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 42 days (unchanged) and the Crane 100 WAM was unchanged from the previous month at 44 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
May 07
The May issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Thursday morning, features the articles: "Crane Data Celebrates 20th BDay; A Tale of Two Decades," which reviews MFI's two decades of covering the money fund business; "ICI 2026 Fact Book Shows Money Fund Trends in '25," which excerpts from the Investment Company Institute's latest annual statistical compilation; and "JP Morgan Talk of AI Cash Tool Hot Topic on Q1 Calls," which discusses recent earnings call discussions on competition to cash sweeps. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Thursday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 4/30/26 data. Our May Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Monday, May 11, and our May Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Thursday, May 14. (Note: Register ASAP for our upcoming Money Fund Symposium, which will take place next month -- June 24-26 in Jersey City, NJ!)
MFI's "Crane Data's 20th Birthday" story says, "Crane Data hits a milestone this month, celebrating our 20th birthday. While our first decade was dominated by the Great Financial Crisis, zero yield and the threat of regulatory extinction, the last 10 years have seen money fund assets triple. As we've done in some earlier May issues, we'd like to take a moment to review our progress and update you on our efforts."
It continues, "Our company, run by money fund expert Peter Crane and technology guru Shaun Cutts, was launched in May 2006 to bring faster, cheaper and cleaner information to the money fund space. We began by publishing our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, and we've grown to offer a full range of daily and monthly spreadsheets, news, database query systems and reports on U.S. and 'offshore' money funds."
We write in our "ICI 2026 Fact Book" article, "The Investment Company Institute released its '2026 Investment Company Fact Book,' an annual compilation of statistics and commentary on the mutual fund space. Subtitled, 'A Review of Trends and Activities in the Investment Company Industry,' the latest edition tells us, 'With stock markets rising around the globe in 2025 ... worldwide total net assets of equity funds ... increased by 19% to $42.6 trillion at year-end 2025. Bond funds -- which invest primarily in fixed-income securities -- saw their total net assets increase 21% over the same period, somewhat reflecting total returns (capital gains and interest income) in bond markets.... Net assets of money market funds, which are regulated funds restricted to holding short-term, high-quality debt instruments, rose by 15%.' We excerpt from the latest 'Fact Book' below."
It continues, "Discussing 'Worldwide' mutual funds (page 9), ICI writes, 'Worldwide net sales of money market funds declined somewhat in 2025 but still attracted $1.3 trillion in net inflows.... Investors across all geographical regions continued to demonstrate demand for money market funds, with the $901 billion in inflows in the United States accounting for more than two-thirds of total net inflows. Investor demand for money market funds in the Asia-Pacific Region and Europe was $217 billion and $169 billion in 2025, respectively.'"
Our "JP Morgan Talk of AI" story says, "J.P. Morgan Chase released its Q1 2026 Earnings last month (see the transcript here), and during the Q&A they were asked about a new 'AI cash tool,' 'which could potentially result in some consumer deposit pressure as well as drive some impact on increased competition [and] higher deposit betas.'"
The story continues, "JPM Chase CEO Jamie Dimon responds, 'Yes. It's a great question, and obviously, we're in the early stages for this particular product.... The question for us is, how can we make it easier for [clients] to manage their money in a way they're comfortable. Most [people] have money in a checking account and then write a ticket to a money market fund or a deposit account.... That's all we're trying to do.'"
MFI also includes the News brief, "MMFs Fall Again, Record Tax Drop." It says, "Crane Data's MFI XLS shows money fund assets falling $102.1 billion in April to $8.096 trillion, though assets have rebounded strongly month-to-date in May. The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly 'Money Market Fund Assets' report shows money fund assets falling by $11.0 billion to $7.626 trillion. MMFs fell $5.6 billion the previous week, and they fell by a massive $175.8 billion two weeks prior, the largest weekly drop ever, driven by huge April 15 tax-day outflows."
Another News brief, "FASB Proposes Disclosure of Cash, Stablecoin Holdings," tells us, "The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal wrote a piece recently titled, 'Companies Would Need to Disclose Stablecoin Holdings Under FASB Proposal.' It tells us, 'The Financial Accounting Standards Board wants to require companies to disclose significant stablecoin holdings as part of a broader move to have companies break out their different types of cash equivalents. The accounting standard-setter voted ... to propose that all companies must annually disclose the dollar amounts of the significant components of their cash equivalents. These components include investments with maturities of three months or less, like money-market funds, Treasury bills, commercial paper and possibly, stablecoins, for which there are no specific accounting rules at present.'"
A third News brief, "Federated on Digital Treasury Fund," says, "Federated Hermes reported its First Quarter earnings and hosted its Q1'26 earnings call late last week. CEO Chris Donahue says in the press release, 'Investors with interest in capital preservation and liquidity continued to rely on our money market offerings and -- for those interested in moving further out the yield curve ... our ultrashort funds.' On the earnings call, Donahue comments, 'Market conditions remain favorable for cash as an asset class. In addition to the appeal of relative safety in periods of volatility, money market strategies present opportunities to earn attractive yields compared to alternatives like bank deposits and direct investments in T-bills and CP.'"
A sidebar, "MSIM Stablecoin Reserves," says, "A press release titled, 'Morgan Stanley Investment Management Launches Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio,' tells us, 'Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) ... announced the launch of the Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio (MSNXX), part of the Morgan Stanley Institutional Liquidity Funds trust. The Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio is a new government money market fund designed to align with the stablecoin reserves investment requirements of the ... GENIUS Act. The Fund offers payment stablecoin issuers an eligible money market fund option where they can invest their required reserves that back their outstanding payment stablecoins.'"
Our May MFI XLS, with April 30 data, shows total assets fell $102.1 billion to $8.096 trillion, after decreasing $56.6 billion in March, increasing $94.0 billion in February, $38.5 billion in January, $123.5 billion in December, $129.3 billion in November, $141.5 billion in October, $100.4 billion in September, $129.9 billion in August, $69.0 billion in July, $10.1 billion in June and jumping $90.3 billion last May.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was unchanged at 3.37%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was down 1 bp at 3.47% in April. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 3.73% and 3.74%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.36% and 0.26% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 4/30/26 on Friday, 5/8.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 42 days (up 1 day) and the Crane 100 WAM was up 1 day from the previous month at 44 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
Apr 08
The April issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Wednesday morning, features the articles: "JPM: Corporates Driving MMF Asset Gains; A Look at Fed Z.1," which reviews corporate cash balances and their impact on money fund growth; "Bond Fund Symposium in Boston: Ho & Schneider," which quotes from our recent ultra-short bond fund conference; and "Fidelity Reserves Digital, 5th Stablecoin Reserve Fund," which discusses the latest Stablecoin Reserves money market funds. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Wednesday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 3/31/26 data. Our April Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Friday, April 10, and our April Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Wednesday, April 15.
MFI's "Corporates" story says, "A recent 'Short-Term Fixed Income' from J.P. Morgan Securities' featured a section titled, 'Corporates maintain large liquidity portfolios, and even larger cash balances.' It states, 'As expected, corporations continue to maintain large liquidity portfolios. Based on balance sheet data for S&P 500 non-financial companies, we estimate liquidity portfolio balances as of 4Q25 registered $2.6tn, an increase of $119bn QoQ and $257bn YoY. At these levels, they surpass even the prior peak of $2.5tn in the months after Covid in 2020.'"
The story states, "The brief continues, 'Notably, cash and cash equivalents rose materially, even as investment securities drove most of the increase in liquidity portfolios. We estimate aggregate cash and cash equivalents rose by nearly $117bn last year, reaching $1.38tn by 4Q25.... This marks one of the larger annual increases in cash and cash equivalents, though still behind what we saw in 2020 and 2023. [A]s far as cash levels go, ... this will be the highest amount of cash and cash equivalents corporations have held in at least a decade.'"
We write in the "Bond Fund Symposium Boston," story, "We recently hosted our latest Crane's Bond Fund Symposium in Boston, which brings together ultra-short bond fund managers and securities issuers. The keynote talk, 'Ultra‐Short Bond Funds: Spring Break,' featured J.P. Morgan Securities' Teresa Ho and PIMCO's Jerome Schneider. The latter comments, 'First of all, thanks for being here. Once again, it's obviously a great forum to see friends. And it's important, not just because of where we are today, and we can talk about the factors of where the economy is going, and waking up every moment to see where rates are going, things like that. But ... what we do here is probably described as calm amongst a storm of uncertainty ... [within] the broader landscape.'"
It continues, "He tells us, 'So, my [role at] PIMCO is running short-term low duration strategies in addition to some of our portable alpha strategies.... From that vantage point, I think about the best way to optimize cash and ... shorter duration type of fixed income allocations.' (Note: Thanks again to those who supported Bond Fund Symposium! Attendees and Crane Data subscribers may access the conference binder, Powerpoints and recordings via our 'Bond Fund Symposium 2026 Download Center.')"
Our "Fidelity Reserves" article says, "Fidelity Investments is the 5th money fund manager to launch a Stablecoin Reserves money market fund, following BlackRock's Circle Treasury Reserves, and Stablecoin Reserves offerings from State Street, Goldman Sachs and BNY. A Registration Statement tells us, 'Fidelity Reserves Digital Fund seeks to obtain as high a level of current in come as is consistent with the preservation of capital and liquidity.' (See our March 30 News, 'Arca Capital Management Files for US Treasury Money Mkt Digital Fund,' which says, 'Arca Capital Management filed a Form N-1A registration statement for Arca U.S. Treasury Money Market Digital Fund.')"
It continues, "Fidelity Reserves Digital's Principal Investment Strategies include: 'Investing only in U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds with a remaining maturity of, or issued with a maturity of, 93 days or less, cash, and overnight repurchase agreements fully collateralized by U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds, and other registered government money market funds; Investing only in eligible reserve assets that payment stablecoin issuers are permitted to maintain under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act ('GENIUS Act') and any regulations adopted thereunder; and, Investing in compliance with industry-standard regulatory requirements for money market funds for the quality, maturity, liquidity, and diversification of investments."
MFI also includes the News brief, "MMFs Hit Record $8.279 Tril., Then Dip in Late March. Money market mutual fund assets jumped to a record high of $8.279 trillion on 3/18, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. But assets then fell. They declined by $56.6 billion in March to $8.201 trillion."
Another News brief, "Fed Holds Rates at 3.5-3.75%." It says, "The Federal Reserve's latest FOMC Statement says, 'The Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.5 to 3.75%.' Our Crane 100 Money Fund Index inched lower to 3.48% in March."
A third News brief, "Reuters: War and Record MMF Assets," says, "Reuters writes 'Investors drive US money market fund assets to records as war-related risk fears multiply.' The piece says, 'As the Iran conflict intensifies, the spike in oil prices and rising inflation fears are spurring investors to ditch stocks as too risky and shun traditional safe havens such as gold in favor of money market funds. The result: assets in those ultra-short-term and ultra-safe Treasury funds are now hovering around $8 trillion, according to calculations from providers such as the Investment Company Institute, JPMorgan Chase and Crane Data.'"
A sidebar, "Donahue Talks Tokenized," says, "Federated Hermes' Chris Donahue spoke recently at the '2026 RBC Capital Markets Global Financial Institutions Conference,' and made a number of comments on tokenization. He says, 'The BNY, Goldman deal is where we have our regular fund. BNY makes a token. The token invests, in effect, money in the fund, so the money fund's the same as it was five minutes ago, and it participates in Goldman's platform. That's another whole deal. Archax is one we're doing in Europe.... We have the structures inside to actually tokenize a money fund.'"
Our April MFI XLS, with March 31 data, shows total assets fell $56.6 billion to $8.201 trillion, after increasing $94.0 billion in February, $38.5 billion in January, $123.5 billion in December, $129.3 billion in November, $141.5 billion in October, $100.4 billion in September, $129.9 billion in August, $69.0 billion in July, $10.1 billion in June and jumping $90.3 billion in May. MMFs decreased $26.6 billion last April.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 1 bp at 3.37%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was down 1 bp at 3.48% in March. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 3.74% and 3.74%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.36% and 0.26% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 3/31/26 on Thursday, 4/9.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 41 days (up 1 day) and the Crane 100 WAM was up 1 day from the previous month at 43 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
Mar 06
The March issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Friday morning, features the articles: "More Tokenized MMFs But Stablecoin Growth Stalling," which discusses a new tokenized MMF entrant and stablecoin balances; "State Street Prime, ProShares Money Market ETFs Go Live," which reviews the latest launches of money market ETFs; and "Federated's Cunningham on Money Funds' New Normal," which looks at the continued strength in money fund assets. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Friday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 2/28/26 data. Our March Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Tuesday, March 10, and our March Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Friday, March 13. (Note: Register ASAP for our upcoming Bond Fund Symposium, Crane Data's ultra-short bond fund conference. BFS will take place in just 2 weeks -- March 19-20 in Boston!)
MFI's "Tokenized MMFs" story says, "While the buzz around tokenized money market funds continues to grow, stablecoin balances have begun declining for the first time ever. On the tokenized MMF side, a press release titled, 'Northern Trust Asset Management Enters Digital Assets Market with Launch of Tokenized Money Market Share Class' tells us, 'Northern Trust Asset Management ... launched a tokenized share class for its NIF Treasury Instruments Portfolio. Marking the firm's entry into the digital assets market, the tokenized share class represents a digital mirror record of the fund's institutional share class using blockchain technology.' It explains, 'This offering will initially be available to clients on BNY's market leading LiquidityDirect platform, which utilizes Goldman Sachs Digital Asset Platform.'"
The story continues, "Paula Kar, Northern Trust Asset Management's Chief Product Officer, comments, 'This launch reflects Northern Trust Asset Management's commitment to delivering secure, efficient, and innovative liquidity solutions for institutional investors. Tokenization delivers meaningful advantages, including improved settlement efficiency and enhanced visibility. Money market funds are on the leading edge of digital innovation, and we are excited to advance our product suite in this evolving space.'"
We write in the "Money Market ETFs," story, "A press release, 'State Street Investment Management Unveils New Actively Managed Prime Money Market ETF,' tells us, 'State Street Investment Management ... announced the launch of the State Street Prime Money Market ETF (MMK), an actively managed ETF designed to meet the cash management needs of investors seeking the convenience, transparency and trading flexibility of ETFs.'"
It quotes Anna Paglia, Chief Business Officer for State Street Investment Management, "For decades, State Street Investment Management has delivered cash solutions to many of the world's most sophisticated institutional investors. With the launch of MMK, that same expertise becomes accessible to all investors looking for ways to manage their cash with an emphasis on income, liquidity and flexibility.'"
Our third article says, "Federated Hermes' latest monthly insight asks, 'Has the floor been raised for the money markets?' Money Market CIO Deborah Cunningham writes, 'There are essentially two ways an extraordinary development can play out: reverting to the mean or creating a new status quo. In finance, the latter is rare, but we believe 2026 is shaping up to be just that for the money markets.'"
It continues, "She explains, 'Many would agree that the collective performance of stable value products since mid-2022 has indeed been extraordinary, riding on the back of Federal Reserve rate hikes, and rising to their highest level in decades. The high watermark for yields came the following year, with the target fed funds range reaching 5.25-5.50% and the Crane 100 Money Fund Index touching 5.20%. Funds poured into money market funds, pushing assets under management (AUM) to record highs.'"
MFI also includes the News brief, "Bloomberg on Record MMF Assets." It says, "They write, 'Money Fund Assets Rise to Record $8.27 Trillion in Dash for Cash.' The piece explains, 'Investors are rushing into US money-market funds, lifting total assets to a record $8.271 trillion, as the war in Iran fuels a broad flight to safety. Some $49 billion flowed into money-market funds in the week ending March 3, according to the latest figures from Crane Data.'"
Another News brief, "Reuters: 'Wall Street Regulator Allows Intraday Trading of Tokenized WisdomTree Money Market Fund.' They comment, 'The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ... said it had granted a special request from the asset manager WisdomTree to allow intraday trading in tokenized shares of a money market fund, adding that this could speed settlement times and ease access for retail investors.'"
A third News brief, "SSIM's latest 'Monthly Cash Review' is titled, 'A Hawk at the Door.' The piece states, 'From a markets perspective, January, as usual, 'came in hot.' Flows were positive and the maturity schedule is heavy, pushing technicals tighter. Spreads have rallied across fixed and float, with fixed looking a bit too proud of itself at 3-4 bps tighter. There's not much value in extending out the curve unless you enjoy chasing things that don't want to be caught. Most investors are holding back, waiting for February to offer better levels, while fund durations naturally roll down as everyone resists the urge to buy at today's highs.... There's still plenty of cash sloshing around. It's a seller's market, plain and simple.'"
A sidebar, "iShares Short Bond ETFs," says, "ETF Trends writes that 'iShares Moves Short-Term Bond ETFs to the Big Board.' The article comments, 'As the hunt for yield and stability remains a cornerstone of portfolios in 2026, a group of iShares short-term bond ETFs have made a strategic move to the Big Board.... Four prominent short-term fixed-income vehicles have officially transitioned their primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The move involves the $75 billion iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV), the $20 billion iShares 0-1 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHV), the $470 million iShares Prime Money Market ETF (PMMF), and the $95 million iShares Government Money Market ETF (GMMF).'"
Our March MFI XLS, with February 28 data, shows total assets rose $94.0 billion to a record high $8.249 trillion, after increasing $38.5 billion in January, $123.5 billion in December, $129.3 billion in November, $141.5 billion in October, $100.4 billion in September, $129.9 billion in August, $69.0 billion in July, $10.1 billion in June and jumping $90.3 billion in May. MMFs decreased $26.6 billion in April and $4.6 billion last March.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 1 bp at 3.39%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was unchanged at 3.50% in February. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 3.76% and 3.76%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.37% and 0.27% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 2/28/26 on Monday, 3/9.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 40 days (up 1 day) and the Crane 100 WAM was unchanged from the previous month at 42 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)