Link of The Day
State Street Prime MM ETF Goes Live
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." The release continues, "The ETF relies on the specialized experience of State Street Investment Management's cash team. It seeks to maximize current income, to the extent consistent with the preservation of capital and liquidity, by investing in a portfolio of short-term, high-quality debt obligations. Priced at 18 bps, the ETF is one of the lowest-cost active prime money market ETF strategies currently available in the U.S. The ETF is a money market fund and invests in a broad range of money market instruments, including U.S. government securities, such as U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds and other securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities; certificates of deposits and time deposits of U.S. and foreign banks, commercial paper and other high quality obligations of U.S. or foreign companies; asset-backed securities, including asset-backed commercial paper; mortgage-related securities, including non-governmental mortgage-related securities; and repurchase agreements." It adds, "State Street Investment Management brings more than 40 years of experience serving the cash needs of investors across the globe. As of December 31, 2025, assets managed by the firm's cash team totaled $599.55 billion." For more on Money Market ETFs, see these Crane Data News stories: "ProShares Genius Money Market ETF"(1/8/26), "Boston Fed Paper Examines Vulnerabilities of MM ETFs, Tokenized MMFs" (1/7/26), "Top 10 Stories of 2025: Assets Break $8.0 Tril., Tokenized MMFs & ETFs" (12/18/25), "JPMorgan Treasury MM ETF Goes Live" (12/15/25), "HSBC Launches European Sterling, Euro Liquidity ETFs; First LVNAV ETFs" (12/4/25), "State Street Files for Prime Money Market ETF; 7th MM ETF, 2nd Prime" (11/4/25), "Barron's on Money-Market ETFs; JPMorgan Says MF Assets Headed Higher" (10/20/25), "JPMorgan Files for Money Market ETF" (7/10/25), "BlackRock Money Market ETFs Go Live; Ondo Finance on Tokenized MMFs" (2/6/25), "VettaFi Discusses Money Market ETFs" (12/11/24), "Dec. MFI: Assets Break $7.0 Tril; Top 10 of 2024; BlackRock MM ETFs" (12/6/24), "BlackRock Debuts First Euro MM ETF" (12/5/24), "FT on BlackRock Money Market ETFs" (11/18/24), "November BFI: Bond Funds Hit by Election; ETF Trends MM Substitutes" (11/15/24), "BlackRock Files for Money Market ETFs" (11/12/24) and "Texas Capital Launches Govt MM ETF" (9/26/24).
ICI: MMF Assets Lower This Week
The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets falling by $22.7 billion to $7.797 trillion, after increasing by $85.0 billion the previous week. Five weeks prior assets were a record $7.804 trillion. Assets have risen in 16 of the last 21 weeks and 24 of the past 30 weeks. MMF assets are up by $851 billion, or 12.3%, over the past 52 weeks (through 2/11/26), with Institutional MMFs up $556 billion, or 13.4% and Retail MMFs up $295 billion, or 10.6%. Year-to-date in 2026, MMF assets are up by $41 billion, or 0.5%, with Institutional MMFs up $39 billion, or 0.8% and Retail MMFs up $2 billion, or 0.1%. ICI's weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets decreased by $22.70 billion to $7.77 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, February 11, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds decreased by $22.17 billion and prime funds increased by $31 million. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $558 million." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs decreasing $25.1 billion and Retail MMFs increasing $2.4 billion in the latest week.`Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $6.388 trillion (82.2% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.243 trillion (16.0%) <b:>`_. Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $142.1 billion (1.8%). It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $2.36 billion to $3.08 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $1.29 billion to $1.95 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $1.04 billion to $1.00 trillion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $31 million to $129.17 billion." Retail assets account for 39.6% of the total, and Government Retail assets make up 63.3% of all Retail MMFs. They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $25.06 billion to $4.69 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $23.46 billion to $4.44 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $1.01 billion to $241.70 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $589 million to $12.94 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 60.4% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 94.6% of all institutional MMF totals. According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have increased by $37.5 billion to $8.179 trillion month-to-date in February (as of 2/11); the record high was $8.188 trillion on 2/4. Assets increased by $32.9 in January, $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose $63.7 billion in July, $6.7 billion in June and $100.9 billion in May. MMFs fell by $24.4 billion in April, but rose $2.8 trillion in March and $94.2 billion last February. Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're almost $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.
SSIM's Goldthwait: Plenty of Cash
State Street Investment Management's latest "Monthly Cash Review-USD" is titled, "A Hawk at the Door." After discussing the Fed, 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." Author Will Goldthwait writes, "Despite geopolitical theatrics -- Greenland resolutions, Canadian tariffs, and the usual pre midterm political fireworks -- there's still plenty of cash sloshing around. It's a seller's market, plain and simple. And with the administration trying to keep the music playing through the midterms, volatility may show up, but liquidity is not exactly in short supply." He says, "On the funding side, Q1 looks calm. The money market system capacity is expanding as global systemically important bank balance sheets rebound from their Q4 contortions, and banks may opt into lighter supplementary leverage ratio requirements. The Fed is gobbling up T bills at a quick clip through Reserve Management Purchases -- about $40B a month into April, before slowing to something closer to $25B. Add another $15B from mortgage-backed securities reinvestments, and you've got a central bank that's basically the MVP of the T bill market." The SSIM update adds, "Treasury's April tax haul may lift the Treasury General Account to roughly $1.1 trillion, though the timing of payments and refunds is anyone's guess. Even with the Fed offsetting some of the drain, reserves could drift down toward $2.8 trillion. Net T bill supply for the year sits around $700B, with the Fed expected to buy about $500B of that, leaving the private market an easy $200B to absorb -- unless fiscal 'surprises' show up. Tariff refunds could add $200B. Stimulus checks -- because elections -- could add another $300–600B. Pick your adventure."
OFR on Resilience of Repo Market
The U.S. Treasury's Office of Financial Research (OFR) asks, "How Resilient is the U.S. Repo Market to Cyber-Induced Outages?" in a new blog post and paper. The summary says, "Risks to the financial system from cyber-induced operational disruptions have become increasingly salient. The U.S. repurchase agreement (repo) market serves as a critical medium for liquidity provision and monetary policy. Yet, while no known operational disruptions have previously impacted this market, sudden spikes in rates due to perceived liquidity shortfalls have underscored the market's vulnerability, as seen on September 17, 2019, when repo rates surged from approximately 2% to nearly 10%. This rate spike disrupted short-term funding markets and prompted immediate intervention by the Federal Reserve to prevent stress from spreading throughout the broader financial system." It explains, "The repo market enables financing by using U.S. Treasuries and other high-quality securities as collateral to facilitate over $13.5 trillion in outstanding agreements daily. These transactions connect a wide array of institutions like dealers, banks, hedge funds, and money market funds through time-sensitive cash and collateral exchanges. Because of these interconnections, proper repo market functioning is an essential part of the broader financial infrastructure." The OFR blog continues, "In their working paper, Short-Circuiting Short-Term Funding, authors R. Jay Kahn, Senior Economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Neth Karunamuni, former OFR analyst; and Mark Paddrik, Acting Deputy Director of OFR's Research and Analysis Center; construct an empirical approach to assess systemic vulnerabilities within the repo market related to firm-level cybersecurity posturing. Their findings quantify how these vulnerabilities can generate funding shortfalls, alter trading patterns, and affect pricing of secured funding." The piece adds, "The authors combine tri-party repo market transaction data with cybersecurity ratings from BitSight Technologies, a provider of externally observed cybersecurity performance data. Through a series of simulations, they evaluate the consequences of cyber-induced operational outages across markets. Their results indicate that disruptions at certain institutions can affect over $100 billion in funding ... and raise repo rates by over 50 basis points. Among those with a potential direct impact, they find that disruptions among asset managers pose the most significant impact to market liquidity."
Crane 100 Index Unchanged at 3.50%
Money fund yields (7-day, annualized, simple, net) were unchanged at 3.50% on average during the week ended Friday, February 6 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after decreasing 1 basis point two weeks prior. Fund yields haven't been below 3.5% since November 2022, and they are down from a recent high of 5.20% in November 2023. They should remain flat in coming days (and weeks) since the Fed left short-term rates unchanged two weeks ago. Yields were 3.58% on 12/31/25, 3.78% on 11/30, 3.90% on 10/31, 3.94% on 9/30, 4.11% on 8/31, 4.12% on 7/31, 4.13% on 6/30, 4.14% on 3/31/25 and 4.28% on average on 12/31/24. MMFs averaged 4.75% on 9/30/24, 5.10% on 6/28/24, 5.14% on 3/31/24 and 5.20% on 12/31/23. The broader Crane Money Fund Average, which includes all taxable funds tracked by Crane Data (currently 681), shows a 7-day yield of 3.40%, unchanged in the week through Friday. Prime Inst money fund yields were down 1 bp at 3.61% in the latest week. Government Inst MFs were down 1 bp at 3.50%. Treasury Inst MFs were down 1 bp at 3.44%. Treasury Retail MFs currently yield 3.22%, Government Retail MFs yield 3.21% and Prime Retail MFs yield 3.41%, Tax-exempt MF 7-day yields were up 26 bps to 1.99%. Money market mutual fund assets have fallen since hitting a record high of $8.188 trillion on February 4, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. Assets have risen $31.7 billion in the week through Friday, and they've increased by $31.7 billion in February month-to-date (through 2/6). MMF assets increased by $32.9 billion in January, $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose by $63.7 billion in July, $6.7 billion in June and $100.9 billion in May. But MMFs decreased $24.4 billion in April. Assets increased by $2.8 billion in March, and $94.2 billion last February. Weighted average maturities were at 39 days for the Crane MFA and 41 days the Crane 100 Money Fund Index. According to Monday's Money Fund Intelligence Daily, with data as of Friday (2/6), just 158 money funds (out of 791 total) yield under 3.0% with $191.2 billion in assets, or 2.3%, while the vast majority (633) of funds yield between 3.00% and 3.99% ($7.982 trillion, or 97.7%). No funds yield over 4.0%. Our Brokerage Sweep Intelligence Index, an average of FDIC-insured cash options from major brokerages, was unchanged at 0.30%, after falling 1 basis point seven weeks prior. The latest Brokerage Sweep Intelligence, with data as of January 30, shows no changes over the past week. Four of the 10 major brokerages tracked by our BSI offer rates of 0.01% for balances of $100K (and lower tiers). These include: E*Trade, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Schwab.
Ledger Insights on Stablecoin Yield
Ledger Insights asks about, "Stablecoin yield: Who really wins?" They write, "Most of the arguments about whether third parties should be allowed to offer stablecoin yield/rewards have been about the impact on bank deposits and the perspective that banks currently deprive consumers of yield. The democratizing yield argument doesn't really stand up to scrutiny. Onchain yield is available today via tokenized money market funds (MMFs). In six months time when tokenized assets are more widely available, consumers will be spoilt for choice, including access to tokenized MMF ETFs. At some point pure tokenized Treasuries could be available." The piece says, "There are numerous other perspectives on the yield argument, including how it will impact money market funds, whether yields will lead to stablecoin transaction costs, and how it fits in with the US administration's goals to influence monetary policy. Even more importantly: what about the consumer? The core issue is that yield sharing accelerates convergence between stablecoins, tokenized money market funds, and deposits, but this convergence may undermine rather than enhance stablecoin utility. The following analysis demonstrates there are potentially more losers than winners." The article adds, "From a consumer perspective, what's the benefit of stablecoin yield over a tokenized MMF? Stablecoins and tokenized MMFs already overlap economically. Both are backed by short term Treasuries. With yield, that similarity becomes visible to users. The main difference is access: tokenized MMFs require KYC for each holder, while stablecoins only require it at exchange on-ramps. But users already provide KYC to crypto exchanges, and as onchain identity infrastructure develops, even this minimal friction disappears. What consumers gain from stablecoin yield is marginal convenience. What they potentially lose is zero cost stablecoin transfers if yield sharing eventually forces stablecoin issuers to charge for transfers. This makes the yield discussion less about consumer benefits than competitive positioning among intermediaries."
ICI: MMF Assets Jump to $7.8 Trillion
The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets jumping by $85.0 billion to a near-record $7.797 trillion, after increasing by $13.0 billion the previous week. Four weeks prior assets were a record $7.804 trillion. Assets have risen in 16 of the last 20 weeks and 24 of the past 29 weeks. MMF assets are up by $879 billion, or 12.8%, over the past 52 weeks (through 2/4/26), with Institutional MMFs up $584 billion, or 14.2% and Retail MMFs up $295 billion, or 10.7%. Year-to-date in 2026, MMF assets are up by $63 billion, or 0.8%, with Institutional MMFs up $64 billion, or 1.4% and Retail MMFs down $1 billion, or -0.0%. ICI's weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $85.02 billion to $7.80 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, February 4, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by increased by $81.05 billion and prime funds increased by $3.55 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $412 million." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs increasing $73.5 billion and Retail MMFs decreasing $11.5 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $6.414 trillion (82.2% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.243 trillion (15.9%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $142.7 billion (1.8%). It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $11.48 billion to $3.08 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $10.44 billion to $1.95 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $957 million to $1.00 trillion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $79 million to $129.13 billion." Retail assets account for 39.5% of the total, and Government Retail assets make up 63.3% of all Retail MMFs. They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $73.54 billion to $4.72 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $70.61 billion to $4.46 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $2.59 billion to $242.70 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $333 million to $13.53 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 60.5% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 94.6% of all institutional MMF totals. According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have increased by $46.6 billion to a record high $8.188 trillion month-to-date in February (as of 2/4); the previous record high was $8.165 trillion on 1/6. Assets increased by $32.9 in January, $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose $63.7 billion in July, $6.7 billion in June and $100.9 billion in May. MMFs fell by $24.4 billion in April, but rose $2.8 trillion in March and $94.2 billion last February. Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're almost $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.
DWS Treasury Port Capital Liquidating
A filing for DWS Treasury Portfolio Capital Shares states, "Upon the recommendation of DWS Investment Management Americas, Inc. (the 'Advisor'), the investment advisor for DWS Treasury Portfolio (the 'Fund'), the Board of Trustees of Investors Cash Trust has authorized, on behalf of the Fund, the termination and liquidation of Capital Shares, a share class of the Fund (the 'Class'), which will be effective on or about February 11, 2026.... Accordingly, the Fund will redeem all outstanding Class shares on the Liquidation Date. The costs of the liquidation, including the notification to shareholders, will be borne by the Fund but reimbursed by the Advisor, after taking into account applicable voluntary or contractual expense caps then in effect by the Advisor to waive or reimburse certain operating expenses of the Fund. Shareholders who elect to redeem their Class shares prior to the Liquidation Date will receive the net asset value per share (normally, $1.00) on such redemption date for all Class shares they redeem. Shareholders whose Class shares are redeemed automatically on the Liquidation Date will receive the net asset value per share (normally, $1.00) for all Class shares they own on the Liquidation Date. The Class will be closed to new investors effective immediately." (See also our Dec. 1 Link of the Day, "DWS Tax-Ex Port Svc Liquidates.") A separate SEC filing for the CNR Rochdale Government Money Market Fund, tells us, "Effective January 6, 2026, the investment adviser to the Funds changed its name from 'City National Rochdale, LLC' to 'RBC Rochdale, LLC.'" Finally, a filing for the North Capital Treasury Money Market Fund comments, "The following is added to the prospectus for North Capital Treasury Money Market Fund as the last paragraph under the heading 'ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STATEG IES AND RISKS - Principal Investment Strategies' on page 4: The Fund intends, under normal circumstances, to invest only in certain eligible reserve assets that payment stablecoin issuers are permitted to maintain under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins ('GENIUS') Act of 2025 and any regulations adopted thereunder. The Fund does not invest in stablecoins." It says, "This Supplement, dated January 29, 2026, and the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information dated August 28, 2025, provide relevant information for all shareholders and should be retained for future reference. The Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, are incorporated by reference, and can be obtained without charge by calling 833-2-NCFUND or 833-262-3863."
Weekly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings
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 January 30) includes Holdings information from 32 money funds (down 34 from a week ago), or $2.007 trillion (down from $3.705 trillion) of the $8.142 trillion in total money fund assets (or 24.6%) tracked by Crane Data. (Note: Our Weekly MFPH are e-mail only and aren't available on the website. See our latest Monthly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings here and our January 13 News, "Jan. Money Fund Portfolio Holdings: Assets Jump; FICC, Fed Repo Surge.") Our latest Weekly MFPH Composition summary shows Government assets dominating the holdings list with Treasuries totaling $908.8 billion (down from $1.657 trillion a week ago), or 45.3%; Repurchase Agreements (Repo) totaling $779.8 billion (down from $1.423 trillion a week ago), or 38.9%, and Government Agency securities totaling $222.5 billion (down from $356.7 billion a week ago), or 11.1%. Commercial Paper (CP) totaled $44.8 billion (down from $113.6 billion a week ago), or 2.2%. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) totaled $21.8 billion (down from $70.9 billion a week ago), or 1.1%. The Other category accounted for $11.7 billion or 0.6%, while VRDNs accounted for $17.4 billion or 0.9%. The Ten Largest Issuers in our Weekly Holdings product include: the US Treasury with $908.8 billion, Fixed Income Clearing Corp with $296.3B, the Federal Home Loan Bank with $136.2B, JP Morgan with $88.5B, Federal Farm Credit Bank with $58.7B, Fidelity with $42.0B, RBC with $39.5B, BNP Paribas with $38.9B, Wells Fargo with $29.1B and Citi with $26.6B. The Ten Largest Funds tracked in our latest Weekly include: Fidelity Inv MM: Govt Port ($266.7B), State Street Inst US Govt ($211.3B), Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Govt ($204.1B), Fidelity Inv MM: MM Port ($170.7B), Dreyfus Govt Cash Mgmt ($159.2B), Allspring Govt MM ($135.9B), First American Govt Oblg ($123.3B), Fidelity Inv MM: Treas Only ($122.4B), Fidelity Inv MM: Treas Port ($77.3B) and Dreyfus Treas Sec Cash Mg ($71.0B). (Let us know if you'd like to see our latest domestic U.S. and/or "offshore" Weekly Portfolio Holdings collection and summary.)
Money Fund Yields Flat at 3.50%
Money fund yields (7-day, annualized, simple, net) were unchanged at 3.50% on average during the week ended Friday, January 30 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after decreasing 1 bp the week prior. Fund yields haven't been below 3.5% since November 2022, and they are down from a recent high of 5.20% in November 2023. They should remain flat in coming days (and weeks) since the Fed left short-term rates unchanged last week. Yields were 3.58% on 12/31/25, 3.78% on 11/30, 3.90% on 10/31, 3.94% on 9/30, 4.11% on 8/31, 4.12% on 7/31, 4.13% on 6/30, 4.14% on 3/31/25 and 4.28% on average on 12/31/24. MMFs averaged 4.75% on 9/30/24, 5.10% on 6/28/24, 5.14% on 3/31/24 and 5.20% on 12/31/23. The broader Crane Money Fund Average, which includes all taxable funds tracked by Crane Data (currently 681), shows a 7-day yield of 3.40%, unchanged in the week through Friday. Prime Inst money fund yields were unchanged at 3.62% in the latest week. Government Inst MFs were unchanged at 3.51%. Treasury Inst MFs were down 1 bp at 3.45%. Treasury Retail MFs currently yield 3.22%, Government Retail MFs yield 3.20% and Prime Retail MFs yield 3.42%, Tax-exempt MF 7-day yields were up 64 bps to 1.74%. Money market mutual fund assets have fallen since hitting a record high of $8.165 trillion on January 6, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. Assets have risen $49.8 billion in the week through Friday, but they've increased by $32.9 billion in January month-to-date (through 1/30). MMF assets increased by $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose by $63.7 billion in July, $6.7 billion in June and $100.9 billion in May. But MMFs decreased $24.4 billion in April. Assets increased by $2.8 billion in March, $94.2 billion in February, and $52.8 billion last January. Weighted average maturities were at 40 days for the Crane MFA and 42 days the Crane 100 Money Fund Index. According to Monday's Money Fund Intelligence Daily, with data as of Friday (1/30), just 163 money funds (out of 791 total) yield under 3.0% with $190.0 billion in assets, or 2.3%, while the vast majority (628) of funds yield between 3.00% and 3.99% ($7.952 trillion, or 97.7%). No funds yield over 4.0%. Our Brokerage Sweep Intelligence Index, an average of FDIC-insured cash options from major brokerages, was unchanged at 0.30%, after falling 1 basis point six weeks prior. The latest Brokerage Sweep Intelligence, with data as of January 30, shows no changes over the past week. Four of the 10 major brokerages tracked by our BSI offer rates of 0.01% for balances of $100K (and lower tiers). These include: E*Trade, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Schwab.
Penn Mutual AM Says Cash Still King
Penn Mutual Asset Management posted an insight titled, "Cash is Still King: Money Market Funds Hold Firm Near All-Time Highs." It states, "U.S. money market funds have experienced substantial growth in assets under management over recent decades, driven by shifting interest rate environments, economic disruptions, regulatory reforms and sustained investor demand for safe, liquid cash alternatives. Total balances remain exceptionally elevated—recently reaching approximately $7.8 trillion -- despite the Federal Reserve's (Fed) most recent easing cycle in late 2025." The blog continues, "Since its peak above 5%, the Fed has reduced the target federal funds rate to a range of 3.50%-3.75%, a move that directly lowers yields on money market funds. At first glance, this persistence of elevated cash balances may seem counterintuitive, as declining rates have historically encouraged investors to rotate out of cash and into higher-returning assets such as equities or longer-duration fixed income. However, current conditions help explain why money market funds continue to attract significant capital." Penn Mutual states, "Even with rates trending downward, money market funds continue to offer attractive yields relative to traditional bank deposits, often outpacing insured savings accounts by a meaningful margin. On a historical basis, yields remain appealing, and both institutional and retail investors maintain money market allocations to meet liquidity needs, satisfy short-term operating requirements or utilize as a temporary parking place for capital. Because these funds invest primarily in short-dated instruments such as Treasury bills, agency discount notes and high-quality commercial paper, their yields reset gradually, providing a smoother descent compared to more volatile market instruments." They continue, "As a result, the combination of still-competitive yields in money markets, principal stability, daily liquidity and limited confidence in the broader economic outlook has kept balances near record highs rather than prompting a meaningful rotation into risk assets. An elevated money market fund balance may reflect continued investor caution amid slowing growth, uncertain inflation dynamics and relatively full valuations across other asset classes.... Until ... alternative asset classes offer meaningfully better risk-adjusted returns, or the economic outlook becomes clearer, money market funds are likely to remain a central destination for investor capital."
Raymond James Q4'25 Earnings
Raymond James Financial (RJF) reported Q4'25 earnings earlier this week, and the company briefly mentioned brokerage sweep accounts and money markets a few times on its latest earnings call. CFO Butch Oorlog, comments, "Clients' domestic cash sweep and enhanced savings program balances ended the quarter at $58.1 billion, up 3% over the preceding quarter and representing 3.7% of domestic PCG client assets. Based on January activity to date, domestic cash sweep and enhanced savings program balances have declined as a result of the collection of record quarterly fee billings of $1.8 billion, and with further declines due to client reinvestment activity.... Combined net interest income and RJBDP fees from third-party banks grew 2% over the prior quarter to $667 million. Net interest margin in the bank segment increased 10 basis points to 2.81% for the quarter, driven by the factors I previously mentioned." CEO Paul Shoukry, says in respond to a question, "In terms of where we stand currently in January, our total combined program sweep and ESP balances are down $2.6 billion, which includes the $1.8 billion fee billing which have already come out of the account, as we indicated. And what we're seeing for that difference is strong client reinvestment of their balances for the rest of it. The breakdown between sweep program and ESP balances of that $2.6 is we've seen $2.1 billion of that in the sweep program and about $500 million of that in the ESP program since the quarter end balance." He adds, "`So, yeah, we're continuing to see, like others that have reported, a shift of the mix, of bigger percentage declines in the enhanced savings program balances. As rates come down, ... those high-yield savings rates are less appealing, especially relative to, the market. So we're seeing more investment in the market versus higher yielding alternatives, at least over the last couple of quarters, as rates started really coming down, which lowers the weighted average mix or the weighted average cost of deposit between sweeps and enhanced savings programs.... That's the flip side of the lower rates, that the floating rate loans become more attractive, and you saw that this past quarter as well. We'll fund it with the diversified funding sources that we have, both the sweep cash, we have third-party cash, that we could redeploy, but also we have diversified deposit gathering apparatus, particularly at Tri-State Capital Bank. And so we'll look at all of those levers to fund future growth going forward."
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