The November issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which will be sent to subscribers Friday morning, features the articles: "State Street Joins Money Market ETF Party; Barron's," which discusses a filing for the latest Prime Money Market ETF; "BNY on Money Market Evolution; Schwab, NTRS Q3'25 Earnings," which reviews the latest money fund and digital asset commentary on earnings calls; and "BlackRock Breaks $1 Trillion; Stablecoin Reserve," which highlights BlackRock's AUM milestone and new 'BSTBL' Fund. We also will send out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Friday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 10/31/25 data. Our November Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Wednesday, Nov. 12 (a day late due to the Veterans Day Holiday), and our November Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Monday, Nov. 17.
MFI's "State Street ETF" story says, "State Street Investment Management filed to launch State Street Prime Money Market ETF, the 7th Money Market ETF offering and just the second 'Prime' Money Market ETF. The Form N1-A Registration Statement states, 'The investment objective of the State Street Prime Money Market ETF is to seek to maximize current income, to the extent consistent with the preservation of capital and liquidity.' The expense ratio for the fund has not been disclosed yet."
The story continues, "It explains, 'The Fund's Board of Trustees has determined that the Fund will qualify as a 'money market fund' pursuant to Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended ('Rule 2a-7'); therefore, the Fund invests in accordance with regulatory requirements applicable to money market funds, which require ... the Fund to invest only in short-term, high quality debt obligations..., to maintain a maximum dollar-weighted average maturity and dollar-weighted average life of sixty (60) days or less and 120 days or less, respectively, and to meet requirements as to portfolio diversification and liquidity.'"
We write in our "BNY on Money Market Evolution" profile, "BNY released its third quarter earnings late last month, and the giant custodial bank discussed money markets, stablecoins and tokenized money markets on its earnings call. President & CEO Robin Vince tells us, 'Our early commitment to the digital asset space, paired with the principles of safety, scalability and innovation that have defined BNY for centuries, now positions us to support the growing institutional adoption of digital asset products. In just one example from this past quarter, OpenEden, a leading platform for the tokenization of real-world assets, headquartered in Singapore, appointed BNY as investment manager and primary custodian for the underlying assets of its flagship Tokenized U.S. Treasury Bills Fund.'"
It adds, "He explains, As global capital markets move toward an `always-on operating model, blockchain technology and digital asset adoption are becoming important enablers. In a meaningful step toward enhancing the utility of money market fund shares, we announced a collaborative initiative with Goldman Sachs to maintain on blockchain technology, a mirror record of customers’ ownership of select money market funds, live and available through our LiquidityDirect platform. This includes a new token-enabled share class of our ... Dreyfus Treasury Securities Cash Management Fund. We are encouraged by developments in the U.S. regulatory landscape that will further enable tokenized products and allow us to support clients as they consider moving to a more 'on chain' financial world.'"
Our "BlackRock $1 Trillion" article says, "A press release titled, 'BlackRock Introduces ’40 Act 2a7 Money Market Fund in GENIUS-aligned Form,' is subtitled, 'As BlackRock's cash management business surpasses $1 trillion in assets under management, the firm introduces a GENIUS Act-aligned '40 Act 2a-7 money market fund to meet growing demand in the stablecoin market.'"
The article continues, "It tells us, 'BlackRock announced a strategic update to one of its money market funds, reflecting a refined investment approach designed to enhance liquidity, align with emerging regulatory frameworks, and support the evolving needs of clients.' (Note: As of Sept. 30, Crane Data shows BlackRock with $665.6 billion in U.S. money funds and $342.4 billion in European or ‘offshore’ money funds, for a total of $1.008 trillion.)"
MFI also includes the News brief, "Fed Cuts Rates Again to 3.75-4.0%." It says, "The Federal Reserve Board again reduced short-term rates, cutting 1/4 point on 10/29. Our Crane 100 Money Fund Index has declined to 3.84% (on 11/6) from 3.92 on 10/31. Yields should drift lower in coming days as money funds digest the latest rate cut."
Another News brief, "Assets Break $7.9/$7.5 Trillion," comments, "Crane Data's totals show assets jumping $141.5 billion in October to a record $7.860 trillion. They also just broke above the $7.9 trillion level in the first week of November (jumping $65.0 billion to $7.914 trillion as of 11/5). Meanwhile ICI's latest weekly shows money fund assets increasing by $116.4 billion to a new record high of $7.535 trillion. MMF assets are up by $945 billion, or 14.3%, over the past 52 weeks (through 11/5/25), with Institutional MMFs up $587 billion, or 14.9% and Retail MMFs up $358 billion, or 13.5%."
A third News brief, "Federated's Donahue Talks Money Markets, Digital Initiatives," says: "Federated Hermes CEO Chris Donahue comments on their recent earnings call, 'In the declining rate environment of the third quarter, investors with interest in capital preservation and liquidity continued to rely on our money market offerings. They also turned to our microshort and ultrashort funds, which are a step further out the yield curve.... We're also developing money market funds and share classes available in tokenized form and working with parties on digital asset infrastructure. These efforts include a planned GENIUS Act compliant money market fund designed to serve as collateral for stablecoins.'"
A sidebar, "NYT: Still Buying MMFs," says, "The New York Times asks in an article, 'Interest Rates Are Falling. Why Are People Still Buying Money Market Funds?' They write, 'Money market funds seem to be defying gravity. They are paying less in interest to investors, but becoming more popular. Given a choice, people usually want more for their money, not less. Yet since the Federal Reserve began pushing short-term interest rates down more than a year ago, investors have been funneling hundreds of billions of additional dollars into these funds.'"
Our November MFI XLS, with October 31 data, shows total assets rose $141.5 billion to a record high $7.860 trillion, after increasing $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 in April and $4.6 billion in March. Assets increased $90.4 billion in February, $47.9 billion in January. Assets jumped $113.0 billion in December and $196.1 billion last November.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 4 bps at 3.79%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was down 5 bps at 3.89% in October. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 4.16% and 4.16%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.37% and 0.27% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 10/31/25 on Monday, 11/10.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 40 days (down 1 day) and the Crane 100 WAM was down 1 day from the previous month at 41 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
