Explosive Money Fund Asset Growth Continues, At Record $2.92 Trillion. The Investment Company Institute's weekly money fund asset totals show an increase of $11.5 billion in the week ended Oct. 17, to a record $2.92 trillion. Money funds have risen by $538.4 billion, or 22.6%, year-to-date, and by a massive $660 billion, or 29.2%, over the past 52 weeks. The third quarter is likely to be a record-breaker for money fund managers, judging from BlackRock's earnings. Money funds as a whole gained $332 billion, or 13.0%, from July 3 through Oct. 3, according to ICI's weekly numbers. Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence Distribution Survey shows huge gains among the largest money fund firms in Q3. The 5 biggest gainers: BlackRock's money fund assets rose by $45.5 billion, or 29.6%, in the quarter; Columbia's rose by $32.9 billion, or 25.8%; Goldman Sachs rose by $31.8, or 35.2%; JPMorgan's rose by $28.8 billion, or 16.4%; and, Fidelity's rose by $23.8 billion. On a percentage basis, HSBC (103.2%), Janus (40.1%), Reserve (39.2%), Goldman (35.2%) and Lehman/NB (34.2%) scored the biggest percent gains among the 30 largest fund families.
