Money Market News
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston posted a research paper, "A Framework for Understanding the Vulnerabilities of New Money-Like Products." It states, "Money and money-like assets are central components of our financial system and economy. As such, the recent emergence of new types of nonbank money-like products, such as stablecoins, tokenized money market funds (MMFs), and money market exchange-traded funds (MMETFs), could be transformative for finance. These nonbank products may offer significant potential benefits, such as enhanced liquidity and higher returns for investors as well as reduced costs for a wide range of transactions, from everyday consumer purchases to large international deals. At the same time, like other money-like assets, such as uninsured deposits and MMFs, the new products can be susceptible to costly, disruptive runs and thus contribute to financial system vulnerabilities."
Money fund yields (7-day, annualized, simple, net) increased by 1 bp to 3.58% on average during the week ended Friday, January 2 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after decreasing 1 bp the week prior. Fund yields should inch lower in coming days as they digest the last of the Fed's Dec. 10 25 bps rate cut. Yields were 3.58% on 12/31/25, 3.78% on 11/30, 3.90% on 10/31, 3.94% on 9/30, 4.11% on 8/31, 4.12% on 7/31, 4.13% on 6/30, 4.14% on 3/31/25 and 4.28% on average on 12/31/24. MMFs averaged 4.75% on 9/30/24, 5.10% on 6/28/24, 5.14% on 3/31/24 and 5.20% on 12/31/23.
Happy New Year! We hope you had a nice Holiday season and break. Crane Data is ramping up preparations for its 2026 conference calendar. We hosted our latest "basic training" Money Fund University event a little over 2 weeks ago, and we're now getting ready for our next show, Bond Fund Symposium, which is March 19-20, 2026, in Boston, Mass. But our focus will soon shift to our big show, Crane's Money Fund Symposium, which will take place June 24-26, 2026 at The Hyatt Regency Jersey City, in Jersey City, NJ. The draft agenda for the largest gathering of money market fund managers and cash investors in the world is now available and registrations are now being taken. Money Fund Symposium attracts money fund managers, marketers and servicers, cash investors, money market securities dealers, issuers, and regulators. We review the MFS preliminary agenda, as well as Crane Data's other 2026 conferences, below.
The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets surging higher by $59.9 billion to a record $7.733 trillion after increasing by $7.5 billion the previous week. Assets have risen in 13 of the last 15 weeks and 21 of the past 24 weeks. MMF assets are up by $883 billion, or 12.9%, over the past 52 weeks (through 12/30/25), with Institutional MMFs up $541 billion, or 13.1% and Retail MMFs up $342 billion, or 12.5%. Year-to-date, MMF assets are also up by $883 billion, or 12.9%, with Institutional MMFs up $541 billion, or 13.1% and Retail MMFs up $342 billion, or 12.5%. (Note: Happy New Year from Crane Data! Thanks for your readership and support in 2025 and best of luck in 2026!)
The Investment Company Institute's latest monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing - November 2025" and "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds" show money fund totals increasing $107.7 billion, or 1.4%, in November to a record $7.575 trillion. MMFs have increased by $862.0 billion, or 12.8%, over the past 12 months (through 11/30/25). Money funds' November asset increase follows an increase of $146.8 billion in October, $104.5 billion in September, $123.4 billion in August, $69.0 billion in July, $29.3 billion in June and $84.7 billion in May. Assets decreased $63.8 billion in April and $10.9 billion in March. But they increased $99.0 billion in February, $31.9 billion in January and $139.3 billion in December. They rose $171.5 billion last November. Bond fund assets increased $32.4 billion to $5.501 trillion, and bond ETF assets increased to $2.22 trillion in November 2025.
Money market mutual fund assets surged by $76.4 billion on Friday (12/26), breaking the $8.1 trillion barrier for the first time ever and hitting a record $8.104 trillion, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. Assets have risen $94.8 billion in the week through Friday and they've jumped by $121.7 billion in December month-to-date (through 12/26). Year-to-date in 2025, they've gained $930.3 billion (13.0%) in assets. MMF assets increased by $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose by $63.7 billion in July, $6.7 billion in June and $100.9 billion in May. But MMFs decreased $24.4 billion in April. Assets increased by $2.8 billion in March, $94.2 billion in February, $52.8 billion in January, and $110.9 billion last December. (Note: Happy Holiday and Happy New Year from Crane Data and Money Fund Intelligence!)
On Dec. 4, Crane Data published a "Link of the Day," "Irish Funds Post Tokenization Paper," which quoted from a press release on the paper, "Mind the Gap: Operational Considerations for the Tokenisation of Irish-Domiciled Funds." Today, we quote from the full piece, which says, "Ireland is a leading EU domicile for fund products notably in the money market funds (MMFs) space, in private asset strategies and has been at the forefront of innovation for exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Ireland offers a robust regulatory framework, global distribution reach, and operational expertise. Tokenisation, through the use of DLT, presents a transformative opportunity for funds by enabling faster settlement, enhanced transparency, and unlocking innovative and new functionality opportunities.... MMFs may benefit from real-time cash management and automated compliance."
The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets inching higher by $7.5 billion to a record $7.673 trillion after increasing by $10.7 billion the previous week. Assets have risen in 12 of the last 14 weeks and 20 of the past 23 weeks. MMF assets are up by $868 billion, or 12.7%, over the past 52 weeks (through 12/23/25), with Institutional MMFs up $513 billion, or 12.5% and Retail MMFs up $355 billion, or 13.1%. Year-to-date, MMF assets are up by $823 billion, or 12.0%, with Institutional MMFs up $490 billion, or 11.9% and Retail MMFs up $333 billion, or 12.2%. (Note: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Crane Data! Thanks again to those who attended our Money Fund University in Pittsburgh last week. Attendees and subscribers may access the conference materials via our "Money Fund University 2025 Download Center.")
J.P. Morgan Asset Management recently published a "Liquidity Insight" titled, "Tokenization: Transforming Money Market Funds for the Digital Era." They write, "The financial industry is undergoing a profound transformation as tokenization reshapes how money market funds are structured, traded, and accessed. As blockchain technology moves further into mainstream finance, tokenized money market funds are emerging as one of the most impactful applications." (Note: Merry Christmas and thanks again to those who attended our Money Fund University in Pittsburgh last week! Attendees and subscribers may access the conference materials via our "Money Fund University 2025 Download Center.")
The SEC published its latest quarterly "Private Funds Statistics" report recently, which summarizes Form PF reporting and includes some data on "Liquidity Funds," or pools which are similar to but not money market funds. The publication shows overall Liquidity fund assets were higher in the latest reported quarter (Q1'25) at $374 billion (up from $358 billion in Q4'24 and up from $333 billion in Q1'24). We also again briefly review the SEC's "Amendments to Form PF Reporting Requirements for Large Liquidity Fund Advisers" which went into effect last year, below. (Note: Merry Christmas and thanks to those who attended our Money Fund University in Pittsburgh last week! Attendees and subscribers may access the conference materials via our "Money Fund University 2025 Download Center.")
J.P. Morgan published "Short-Term Fixed Income 2026 Outlook" recently, which explains, "[W]ith rates still well above 3%, cash has continued to pour into MMFs. Inflows have persisted even as the Fed cuts rates, supported by interest reinvestment, an inverted yield curve, persistent market volatility, and potentially AI-related debt raises with proceeds not yet fully deployed. MMFs have remained a preferred haven for investors seeking stability, yield, and a place to park liquidity, pushing AUMs up $736bn (or 10%) to north of $7.8tn YTD." (Note: Thanks to those who attended our Money Fund University in Pittsburgh last week! Attendees and subscribers may access the conference materials via our "Money Fund University 2025 Download Center.")
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published its latest monthly "Money Market Fund Statistics" summary this month, after a previous 2-month publication delay due to the government shutdown the month prior. The report shows that total money fund assets rose by $125.1 billion in November 2025 to a record high $8.055 trillion, after hitting $7.930 trillion the month prior. The SEC shows Prime MMFs increased $3.1 billion in November to $1.341 trillion, Govt & Treasury funds increased $115.4 billion to $6.563 trillion and Tax Exempt funds increased $6.5 billion to $151.3 billion. Taxable yields were lower in November after being flat to slightly lower in October. The SEC's Division of Investment Management summarizes monthly Form N-MFP data and includes asset totals and averages for yields, liquidity levels, WAMs, WALs, holdings, and other money market fund trends. We review their latest numbers below. (Our MFI XLS monthly shows money fund assets increasing $132.8 billion in November 2025 to a record of $7.992 trillion. In December month-to-date through 12/17, total money fund assets have increased by $50.3 billion to $8.033 trillion, previously hitting a record high of $8.066 trillion (12/11), according to Crane Data's separate, and slightly smaller, MFI Daily series.) (Note: Thanks to those who attended our Money Fund University in Pittsburgh this week! Attendees and subscribers may access the conference materials via our "Money Fund University 2025 Download Center.")
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