MFI Distribution Survey
Wells Fargo Securities' Garret Sloan and Vanessa Hubbard write in their latest "Daily Short Stuff," "Last week we commented on the significant week-over-week jump in the SIFMA index.... This week there has been another dramatic increase as the index reset 31 basis points higher yesterday, beating last week's move as the largest weekly climb since the end of 2008. All of the reasons we gave last week for the recent rise are still relevant, most notably end of year supply and liquidity dynamics. In the month of December, the weekly SIFMA index has gained 71 basis points over four short weeks. To put this move into perspective, from January 2017 to the first week in December, the index has climbed just 32 basis points. This 32 basis point move over 49 weeks withstood three Fed fund rate hikes of 25 basis points each. Year-end liquidity constraints are exasperating the upward trajectory in the weekly SIFMA index." They add, "Similarly, but not as dramatic, commercial paper rates have risen quickly over the past few weeks as well mostly attributed to end of year liquidity dynamics. The 5-day moving average for 30 day Tier-1 nonfinancial CP according to Fed data has risen by about 27 basis points in the month of December and the index for Tier-1 financial CP has risen by 24 basis points. Tier-2 CP rates have climbed in aggregate an average of 35 basis points over this same timeframe. Supply has also increased over this period with commercial paper outstanding on a seasonally adjusted basis growing from $1.05 trillion at the beginning of December to $1.08 trillion last week."
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MFI Distribution Survey News
Aug 07
The August issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which will be sent to subscribers Friday morning, features the articles: "Tokenized MMF Launches Proliferate: BlackRock, Aviva," which reviews the latest tokenized money fund launches; "Quarterly Earnings Calls Quiet on Money Fund, Cash News," which discusses Q2'26 earnings discussions on cash, deposits and sweeps; and "Federated's Donahue on MF Market Share, Digital, Rates," which quotes Federated Hermes' latest earnings call. We also will send out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Friday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 7/31/26 data. Our August Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Tuesday, Aug. 11, and our August Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Friday, Aug. 14. (Note: Please join us for our upcoming European Money Fund Symposium, which will take place next month -- Sept. 24-25 in Paris, France!)
MFI's "Tokenized MMF Launches" story says, "A press release, 'BlackRock Expands Tokenized Cash Platform with BSTBL On-Chain Shares and BRSRV,' tells us, 'BlackRock expanded its cash management strategy with the launch of two tokenized money market products: On-Chain Shares of the BlackRock Select Treasury Based Liquidity Fund ('BSTBL') and the BlackRock Daily Reinvestment Stablecoin Reserve Vehicle ('BRSRV'). The new products combine BlackRock's money market capabilities with blockchain-based infrastructure while maintaining the liquidity and stability, investors expect from regulated money market funds.'"
It continues, "Jon Steel, Global Head of Product and Platform for BlackRock Cash Management, comments, 'Cash remains a foundational building block for investors, corporations, and financial institutions. U.S. money market funds have grown to more than $8.4 trillion in assets as investors continue to prioritize liquidity, capital preservation, and the potential for yield. As demand grows for high-quality reserve assets to support stablecoins and other tokenized financial products, these funds provide clients with additional choice in how they access and use money market fund investment solutions across traditional and digital markets.'"
We write in our "Quarterly Earnings" article, "The latest quarterly earnings season has been lighter than usual with mentions of money market funds and 'cash.' On Charles Schwab's Q2'26 Summer Business Update, CFO Michael Verdeschi tells analysts, 'Bank deposit account fees grew 35% year-over-year due to continued improvement in the net yield, other revenue was up 32% versus 2Q 2025, with stronger trading volumes as well as typical second quarter seasonality.... Client cash followed typical seasonal trends, including tax payments in April. While strong equity markets lifted sentiment and supported elevated trading activity, transactional sweep cash increased by $24.2 billion in 2Q, largely driven by demand for long-short strategies as well as organic asset gathering. Beyond the growth related to long-short, client cash trends remain strong with year-to-date underlying cash performing better than our initial expectations coming into the year.'"
The story continues, "During the Q&A, he responds on rates, 'Keep in mind that we'll have to see how the rate path plays out. Right now we were assuming one hike. That hike was for the December meeting so you're not seeing that incremental pickup in 2026. If that hike were to occur it's going to be impacting the financials in 2027. No, we feel good about the net interest margin expansion that we've seen so far. If rates resume a hiking pattern, you'll see even more expansion <b:>`_…. We continue to see cash build organically as well. `Again, we've seen growth in the first half of the year despite the seasonality of Q1 and Q2.'"
Our "Federated's Donahue" article says, "Federated Hermes CEO Chris Donahue comments on their Q2'26 earnings call, 'Total money market assets decreased by $7.9 billion or about 1%. Money market funds decreased by $2.9 billion or 1% from Q1, yet were up almost $32 billion or 7% year-over-year. After ending 2025 at a record high of $508 billion, money market fund assets have decreased slightly over the first half of the year to $500 billion at the end of Q2. Money market separate accounts decreased by about $5 billion or 3%, similar to last year's Q2 decrease of $5.8 billion.'"
It states, "Donahue continues, 'Still, these assets were up about $10 billion or 6.4% year-over-year at the end of Q2. Money market separate account assets are impacted by the liquidity levels of the large state pools that we manage and typically peak with tax collections at year-end through mid-April before decreasing in Q2 and Q3. Our estimate of money market mutual fund market share, including sub-advised funds, was about 6.7% at the end of Q2, down from 6.9% at the end of Q1.'"
MFI also includes the News brief, "MMF Assets Drop in July, Dip Back Below $8.3 Trillion." It says, "Our MFI XLS shows MMF assets falling $65.6 billion in July to $8.290 trillion, after hitting a record $8.404 trillion in June. ICI's 'Money Market Fund Assets' shows MMFs rebounding $55.4 billion to $7.909 trillion in the latest week (ended 8/5)."
Another News brief, "BNY Debuts BLIQUID Tokenized MF," says, "A release, 'BNY Investments Launches Its First Native Blockchain Product, BLIQUID by BNY,' states, 'BNY Investments Dreyfus ... announced the launch of BNY Dreyfus On-Chain Liquidity Fund, one of the first digitally native, SEC-registered 2a-7 money funds.'"
A third News brief, "Bloomberg: Money Funds Shorten," tells us, "Bloomberg writes that, 'Money Funds Keep Cash Closer as Fed Leaves Markets Guessing.' The article tells us, 'Money market funds are shifting toward ultra short-term holdings and away from assets with even modest interest-rate risk as uncertainty grows over the Fed's policy path and the near-term outlook for rates. The weighted average maturity of fund holdings has fallen to 40 days from 45 days in mid-May, according to Crane Data. Managers have directed more cash into overnight repurchase agreements and short-dated securities, while increasing allocations to floating-rate agency and Treasury debt. Exposure to T-bills has edged lower even as the government ramps up issuance.' See also, Reuters' 'US money market funds turn defensive with Fed rate outlook uncertain.'"
A sidebar, "Stablecoin Reserves Recap," says, "Mutual fund news source ignites published, 'Fund Shops Race to Launch Stablecoin Reserve Money Funds,' which tells us, 'Traditional asset managers are rolling out a wave of government money market funds tailored specifically to stablecoin reserves, positioning themselves to capture institutional cash ahead of expected regulatory mandates. Firms including Morgan Stanley, State Street, BNY and Goldman Sachs have launched products over the past several months.'"
Our August MFI XLS, with July 31 data, shows total assets falling $65.6 billion to $8.290 trillion, after increasing $49.5 billion in June and $193.2 billion in May. They decreased $102.1 billion in April and $56.6 billion in March, but increased $94.0 billion in February. Assets rose $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, and $129.9 billion last August.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was up 3 bps at 3.39%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was up 3 bps at 3.50% in July. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 3.75% and 3.76%. 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 7/31/26 on Monday, 8/10.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 38 days (down 1 day) and the Crane 100 WAM was down 1 day from the previous month at 40 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
Jul 08
The July issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Wednesday morning, features the articles: "AFP '26 Liquidity Survey Says Deposits, MMFs, T-Bills Rule," which reviews a recent study on corporate cash allocations; "Money Fund Symposium '26 KeyNote: JPMAM's Chris Tufts," which covers highlights from our recent conference in Jersey City; and "ICI: Worldwide MMFs Record $13.5T in Q1'26; China Jumps," which covers global MMF trends and country rankings. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Wednesday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 6/30/26 data. Our July Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Friday, July 10, and our July Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Wednesday, July 15. (Note: Please join us for our upcoming European Money Fund Symposium, which will take place Sept. 24-25 in Paris, France!)
MFI's "AFP Liquidity Survey" story says, "The recently released '2026 AFP Liquidity Survey' tells us, 'Most organizations continue to allocate a large share of their short-term investment balances -- an average of 83% -- in safe and liquid investment vehicles: bank deposits, money market funds (MMFs) and Treasury securities. This result is three percentage points higher than the 80% reported in 2025. The typical organization currently maintains 42% of its short-term investments in bank deposits. This allocation is four percentage points lower than last year (2025) but is 13 percent lower than the 55% reported in 2022.... The figure has not reached a level as low as 42% since 2011.' (See our June 22 News, 'AFP 2026 Liquidity Survey: Increase in Corporate Cash; Stablecoins Tiny.')"
It continues, "AFP writes, 'Current allocations in Government/Treasury money funds are 19.5%, a decrease of 0.9 percentage points from the figure reported in 2025.... Allocation to Treasury securities (including bills and notes) is 12.1%, higher than the 8.7% reported in 2024 but very similar to 12.4% reported in 2024.'"
We write in our "MFS KeyNote" article, "Crane Data hosted its big Money Fund Symposium conference in Jersey City last week, where over 740 money market professionals discussed rates, tokenization, record asset levels and a number of other hot topics in cash. The opening session, 'Keynote: Money Funds Stay Hot (& Cool) in '26,' featured J.P. Morgan Asset Management's Global Head of Portfolio Management Chris Tufts. Responding to the record numbers in Jersey City, Tufts says, 'I think it's a reflection of the run our industry has had over the past five or six years in particular.... I think it speaks to the asset gathering, the relevance of our product, and the fact that money funds have become the default liquidity tool for a wider array of investors over the past several years.' (Note: Materials are available in our 'Money Fund Symposium 2026 Download Center.')"
The story continues, "He explains, 'I think I'd also add that what's new, and pretty exciting for me and probably for most of the people in the room, is that we're not just talking about a safe corner of the market, cash management. We're really as an industry increasingly at the forefront of innovation and how cash and liquidity plug into all things digital. So really this is an innovation conversation this year. That's exciting, and I'm happy to be part of that.'"
Our "Worldwide" article says, "The Investment Company Institute published, 'Worldwide Regulated Open-Fund Assets and Flows, First Quarter 2026,' which shows that money fund assets globally rose by $190.7 billion, or 1.4%, in Q1'26 to a record $13.470 trillion. (The totals would have been $13.742 trillion if Australia and New Zealand had been included.) Increases were led by a sharp jump in money funds in China and Ireland, while the U.S. and the Republic of Korea also showed gains. Meanwhile, money funds in India and Japan were lower. MMF assets worldwide increased by $1.626 trillion, or 13.7%, in the 12 months through 3/31/26, and money funds in the U.S. now represent 57.7% of worldwide assets."
It continues, "ICI's release says, 'Worldwide regulated open-end fund assets, excluding funds of funds, decreased 0.8% to $87.23 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2026. Worldwide net cash inflow to all funds was $931 billion in the first quarter, compared with $1.4 trillion of net inflows in the fourth quarter of 2025. The Investment Company Institute compiles worldwide regulated open-end fund statistics on behalf of the International Investment Funds Association (IIFA), the organization of national fund associations. The collection for the first quarter of 2026 contains statistics from 44 jurisdictions.'"
MFI also includes the News brief, "MMFs Break Record $8.4 Trillion." It says, "Our MFI Daily shows MMF assets jumping $89.6 billion Monday (7/6) to a record $8.404 trillion. The monthly MFI XLS shows assets rising $49.4 billion in June to a record $8.351 trillion. ICI's latest weekly 'Money Market Fund Assets' shows money fund assets jumping $47.7 billion to a record $7.948 trillion."
Another News brief, "Barron's Writes 'Money-Market Funds Are as Appealing as Ever. Just Don't Back Up the Truck.' The article states, 'Money-market funds have a lot going for them right now. Not only do they offer safety from turbulent markets, but investors can also earn an attractive 3.45% yield, according to Crane's index of the 100 largest money-market funds. That's down from 3.58% at the start of the year, but stable for the past few months and quite a bit higher than most investors expected for midyear.'"
A third News brief, "Portfolio Holdings: Assets Jump; Treasuries Surge, Repo Up," says, "Our June Money Fund Portfolio Holdings, with data as of May 31, 2026, show that holdings of Treasuries jumped sharply last month. Money market securities held by Taxable U.S. money funds (tracked by Crane Data) increased by $255.9 billion to $8.225 trillion in May. Treasuries jumped by $218.9 billion (6.9%) to $3.373 trillion, or 41.0% of holdings. Repo rose by $17.9 billion (0.6%) to $2.992 trillion in May, or 36.4% of holdings. Agencies were the third largest segment, and CP remained fourth, ahead of CDs, Other/Time Deposits and VRDNs."
A sidebar, "Fed Z.1: Household Assets Up," says, "The Federal Reserve's latest quarterly 'Z.1 Financial Accounts of the United States' shows that Total MMF Assets increased by $99 billion to $8.290 trillion in Q1'26. The Household Sector, by far the largest investor segment with $5.419 trillion, saw the biggest asset increase in Q1, followed by Other Financial Business (formerly Funding Corps) and Nonfinancial Corporate Business. The Fed's Z.1 numbers also showed noticeable increases for the Exchange-traded Funds and Rest of the World categories in Q1 2026."
Our July MFI XLS, with June 30 data, shows total assets jumping $49.5 billion to $8.351 trillion, after increasing $193.2 billion in May, 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, and $69.0 billion last July.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was up 2 bps at 3.36%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was up 2 bps at 3.47% in June. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 3.72% and 3.73%. 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 6/30/26 on Thursday, 7/9.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 39 days (down 3 bps) and the Crane 100 WAM was down 3 bps from the previous month at 41 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.)