Crane 100 Inches Down to 4.43%
Money fund yields declined by 1 basis point to 4.43% on average during the week ended Friday, Dec. 6 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after falling 1 bp the week prior and 3 bps two weeks prior. Yields reflect most of the Federal Reserve's 25 basis point cut on November 7, but they should inch a little lower ahead of the Fed's Dec. 18 meeting. They've declined by 63 bps since the Fed cut its Fed funds target rate by 50 bps percent on Sept. 18 and they've declined by 20 bps since the Fed cut rates by 1/4 point on 11/7. Yields were 4.65% on average on 10/31, 4.75% on 9/30, 5.10% on 8/31, 5.13% on 7/31 and 6/28, 5.14% on 5/31, 5.13% on 4/30, 5.14% on 3/31 and 2/29/24, 5.17% on 1/31/24, and 5.20% on 12/31/23. The broader Crane Money Fund Average, which includes all taxable funds tracked by Crane Data (currently 672), shows a 7-day yield of 4.33%, down 2 bps in the week through Friday. Prime Inst money fund yields were down 2 bps at 4.54% in the latest week. Government Inst MFs were down 1 bp at 4.44%. Treasury Inst MFs were down 3 bps at 4.37%. Treasury Retail MFs currently yield 4.16%, Government Retail MFs yield 4.13%, and Prime Retail MFs yield 4.32%, Tax-exempt MF 7-day yields were down 62 bps to 2.04%. Assets of money market funds rose by $44.1 billion last week to $7.107 trillion, decreasing after seeing a new record high the day prior (12/5) at $7.124 trillion, according to Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence Daily. For the month of December, MMF assets have surged by $44.1 billion, after increasing by $200.5 billion in November, $97.5 billion in October and $149.8 billion in September. Weighted average maturities were down 1 bp at 36 days for the Crane MFA and unchanged at 37 days for the Crane 100 Money Fund Index. According to Monday's Money Fund Intelligence Daily, with data as of Friday (12/6), 115 money funds (out of 786 total) yield under 3.0% with $141.6 billion in assets, or 2.0%; 75 funds yield between 3.00% and 3.99% ($52.7 billion, or 0.7%), 596 funds yield between 4.0% and 4.99% ($6.913 trillion, or 97.3%) and following the recent rate cut there continues to be zero funds yielding 5.0% or more. Our Brokerage Sweep Intelligence Index, an average of FDIC-insured cash options from major brokerages, was unchanged at 0.46%, after dropping 2 basis points three weeks prior. The latest Brokerage Sweep Intelligence, with data as of Dec. 6, shows that there were two changes over the past week. Merrill Lynch lowered rates once again for their advisory accounts; they're now at 4.45% (down 2 bps from the week prior). UBS lowered rates to 0.10% for accounts between $1M and $1.9M and also to 0.25% for accounts between $4M and $9.9M, this week we also added UBS advisory account rates to the report. Three of the 10 major brokerages tracked by our BSI still offer rates of 0.01% for balances of $100K (and lower tiers). These include: `E*Trade, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.
