The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets rising a mere $900 million to $7.928 trillion. Assets rose $18.3 billion the previous week and increased $55.4 billion the week before this. MMF assets are up by $739 billion, or 10.3%, over the past 52 weeks (through 8/19/26), with Institutional MMFs up $582 billion, or 13.8% and Retail MMFs up $157 billion, or 5.4%. Year-to-date in 2026, MMF assets are up by $195 billion, or 2.5%, with Institutional MMFs up $167 billion, or 3.6% and Retail MMFs up $29 billion, or 0.9%. (Note: Please join us for our European Money Fund Symposium show, which will be held in just one month, Sept. 24-25, 2026 in Paris, France!)
ICI's weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $900 million to $7.93 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, August 19, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $1.45 billion and prime funds decreased by $1.90 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $1.35 billion." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs decreasing $1.8 billion and Retail MMFs increasing $2.7 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $6.541 trillion (82.5% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.238 trillion (15.6%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $149.3 billion (1.9%).
It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $2.72 billion to $3.11 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $1.91 billion to $1.98 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $373 million to $991.97 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $1.18 billion to $136.98 billion." Retail assets account for 39.2% of the total, and Government Retail assets make up 63.7% of all Retail MMFs.
They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $1.82 billion to $4.82 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $459 million to $4.56 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $1.52 billion to $246.11 billion,and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $167 million to $12.27 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 60.8% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 94.6% of all institutional MMF totals.
According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have increased by $65.0 billion to $8.354 trillion month-to-date in August (as of 8/19), assets reached an all-time high of $8.404 trillion on July 6. Assets decreased $61.4 billion in July, increased $58.6 billion in June, $208.6 billion in May, decreased by $108.8 billion in April, $49.3 billion in March, increased $99.5 billion in February, $32.9 billion in January, $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion last August. Note that `ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're almost $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.
In other news, J.P. Morgan's latest "JPM Mid-Week US Short Duration Update," titled, "Summer of hot, humid and soft repo," tells us, "Repo conditions have remained in a clear soft patch so far this month, with SOFR mostly printing flat to 1–2bp below EFFR, even as money market investors have absorbed sizeable supply -- $204bn MTD of net T-bill supply to private investors (and $425bn since June-end). With the bulk of the seasonal supply ramp now behind us—and only minimal additional T-bill supply expected to be digested by private investors over the next two weeks -- we do not see a compelling case for funding conditions to firm materially in the near term."
They write, "[T]he cash backdrop remains supportive. MMF AUMs have risen by nearly $95bn MTD, taking total AUM to roughly $8.2tn -- already above the typical August seasonal build of about $92bn. At the same time, WAMs have shortened again (down 1 day to 35 days for government funds and 2 days to 34 days for prime), suggesting a continued preference for liquidity -- likely reflecting Fed policy uncertainty, even as expectations have moderated somewhat more recently.... That combination (more cash and shorter WAMs) might also be reinforcing the soft tone in repo."
Authors Pankaj Vohra and Molly Herckis explain, "Looking a bit further ahead into September, we still do not expect a durable firming in funding. We currently look for negative net T-bill supply in September, which should reduce the amount of front-end supply money market investors need to absorb. We do expect the usual September mid-month transients -- reserve declines, MMF outflows, and settlement dynamics -- to generate some pressure, but historically these events have been brief rather than persistent. Around the September corporate tax period, taxable MMF AUMs have tended to fall by roughly about 0.7%-pts in the run-up to the payment date ... if repeated this year, that would imply a manageable $60–70bn of outflows across the complex."
They add, "Meanwhile, reserves tend to drop between 3-4% ... applying that to current reserve levels near $3tn implies a temporary decline of around $100bn, with reserves generally rebuilding after the corporate tax date. To that end, while we could see temporary pockets of firmness around mid-September and quarter-end, we do not expect sustained dislocations in funding markets absent reduced dealer balance sheet capacity or a meaningful extension in MMF positioning. September SOFR/FF (SERFFU6) pricing also looks broadly fair at -0.5bp to -1.0bp."
Finally, this past weekend's Barron's writes, "Vanguard Conquered the ETF World. Where It's Aiming Next." The article interviews Vanguard Group CEO Salim Ramji, who comments on bond funds and ETFs (see our upcoming Bond Fund Intelligence for more on this), but who also touches on cash. The piece says, "For Ramji, the answer is to apply the company's investor-friendly mission and relentless focus on cutting costs for customers to three main areas ripe for growth: high-yield cash savings, financial advice, and fixed-income investing."
It states, "One of the company's biggest fund launch success stories is the Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF (VBIL), which reached $5 billion in assets less than a year after debuting in February 2025. That makes it the fastest-growing Vanguard ETF—fixed income or equity."
Barron's tells us, "Of the three pillars of Vanguard's growth strategy, customer cash may hold the most promise in terms of new client growth. The Vanguard Cash Plus Account, a high-yield Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.–insured savings offering that launched in early 2024, just before Ramji joined, has become one of the company's most successful offerings in its history, according to executives. More than half a million customers have signed up for a Cash Plus Account, with an average balance of $42,000. Cash Plus currently pays annual interest of 3.35%, compared with a national average savings account yield of 0.62%, according to Bankrate."
They add, "About one in four Cash Plus customers are new to Vanguard, giving the company an opportunity to introduce them to its other offerings, such as self-directed brokerage and advice. Vanguard plans further Cash Plus enhancements, such as adding a debit card. A majority of these new customers have tapped additional Vanguard services. 'All investors first start as savers,' Ramji says."
