The Investment Company Institute published its latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report Thursday, which shows MMF assets rising for the fourth week in a row and hitting yet another new record level. ICI's asset series rose $21.9 billion (after rising $16.9 billion the prior week) to $5.73 trillion. Assets are up by $999 billion, or 21.1%, year-to-date in 2023, with Institutional MMFs up $446 billion, or 15.9% and Retail MMFs up $553 billion, or 33.0%. Over the past 52 weeks, money funds have risen a massive $1.109 trillion, or 24.0%, with Retail MMFs rising by $629 billion (39.3%) and Inst MMFs rising by $480 billion (15.9%). (Note: Register and make hotel reservations soon for our upcoming Money Fund University, which takes place Dec. 18-19, 2023 in Jersey City, NJ. We hope to see you in next month!)
The weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $21.91 billion to $5.73 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, November 15, the Investment Company Institute reported. Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $18.85 billion and prime funds increased by $5.64 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $2.57 billion." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs rising $11.4 billion and Retail MMFs rising $10.5 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $4.680 trillion (81.6% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $932.0 billion (16.3%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $122.5 billion (2.2%).
ICI explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $$10.52 billion to $2.23 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $7.50 billion to $1.45 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $4.75 billion to $667.57 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $1.73 billion to $111.21 billion." Retail assets account for over a third of total assets, or 38.9%, and Government Retail assets make up 65.1% of all Retail MMFs.
They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $11.39 billion to $3.50 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $11.35 billion to $3.23 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $887 million to $264.39 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $840 million to $11.29 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 61.1% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 92.1% of all Institutional MMF totals.
According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets rose $84.1 billion in the first 15 days of November to $6.125 trillion. (This is just a hair shy of our record level on Nov. 8 of $6.126 trillion.) Assets fell by $31.9 billion in October after rising by $93.9 billion in September, $98.3 billion in August and $34.7 billion in July. Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're over $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.
ICI also released its latest monthly "Money Market Fund Holdings" summary, which reviews the aggregate daily and weekly liquid assets, regional exposure, and maturities (WAM and WAL) for Prime and Government money market funds. This release says, "The Investment Company Institute (ICI) reports that, as of the final Friday in October, prime money market funds held 39.9 percent of their portfolios in daily liquid assets and 58.5 percent in weekly liquid assets, while government money market funds held 81.2 percent of their portfolios in daily liquid assets and 88.7 percent in weekly liquid assets." Prime DLA was down from 40.8% in September, and Prime WLA was up from 58.2%. Govt MMFs' DLA was down from 81.3% and Govt WLA decreased from 89.2% the previous month.
ICI explains, "At the end of October, prime funds had a weighted average maturity (WAM) of 32 days and a weighted average life (WAL) of 51 days. Average WAMs and WALs are asset-weighted. Government money market funds had a WAM of 30 days and a WAL of 74 days." Prime WAMs were 3 days longer and WALs were unchanged from the previous month. Govt WAMs were 3 days longer and WALs were 6 days longer from September.
Regarding Holdings by Region of Issuer, the release tells us, "Prime money market funds’ holdings attributable to the Americas declined from $489.15 billion in September to $459.97 billion in October. Government money market funds’ holdings attributable to the Americas declined from $4,312.52 billion in September to $4,199.91 billion in October."
The Prime Money Market Funds by Region of Issuer table shows Americas-related holdings at $460.0 billion, or 50.7%; Asia and Pacific at $150.3 billion, or 16.5%; Europe at $285.0 billion, or 31.4%; and, Other (including Supranational) at $12.7 billion, or 1.5%. The Government Money Market Funds by Region of Issuer table shows Americas at $4.200 trillion, or 90.3%; Asia and Pacific at $110.6 billion, or 2.4%; Europe at $323.1 billion, 6.9%, and Other (Including Supranational) at $18.0 billion, or 0.4%.
