Money Market News
The ICI released its monthly "Trends in Mutual Fund Investing" and its "Month-End Portfolio Holdings of Taxable Money Funds" for October 2020 yesterday. The former report shows that money fund assets decreased by $47.6 billion to $4.357 trillion in October, after decreasing $118.4 billion in September, $56.7 billion in August, $55.4 billion in July and $133.5 billion in June. Prior to this, assets increased $31.8 billion in May, $399.4 billion in April and $690.6 in March. For the 12 months through Oct. 31, 2020, money fund assets have increased by a massive $863.5 billion, or 25.5%. (Month-to-date in November, MMF assets have decreased by $28.0 billion through 11/23, according to our MFI Daily.)
The Securities and Exchange Commission's latest monthly "Money Market Fund Statistics" summary shows that total money fund assets dropped by $73.6 billion in October to $4.789 trillion, the fifth decrease in a row. (Month-to-date in November through 11/20, assets have decreased by $39.0 billion according to our MFI Daily.) The SEC shows that Prime MMFs fell by $30.7 billion in October to $962.0 billion, Govt & Treasury funds dropped by $41.4 billion to $3.706 trillion and Tax Exempt funds decreased $1.5 billion to $119.6 billion. Yields inched lower again 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.
Crane Data hosted its most recent virtual event, European Money Fund Symposium Online Thursday, which featured a series of discussions on European and "offshore" money market mutual fund topics. During our "Major Issues in European MMFs" panel, Veronica Iommi of the Institutional Money Market Funds Association gave a "brief 2020 update on money market funds in Europe from IMMFA's perspective with a "focus on the impact of the covid-19 pandemic [and] our role as a voice to the industry." We quote from her remarks below. (Thanks again to our EMFS Online attendees, speakers and sponsors! The replay is available here in case you missed it.)
We're officially taking this year's Money Fund University virtual! Please join us for the 11th annual Crane's Money Fund University, which will take place Jan. 21-22, 2021, online. (We had been scheduled for Pittsburgh, but had to cancel due to coronavirus.) Money Fund University offers an affordable and comprehensive, day-and-a-half, "basic training" course on money market mutual funds. MFU covers the history of money funds, interest rates, regulations (Rule 2a-7), ratings, rankings, money market instruments such as commercial paper, CDs and repo, and portfolio construction and credit analysis. We also include segments on offshore money funds and ultra-short bond funds. New portfolio managers, analysts, investors, issuers, service providers, and anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of "cash" investing will benefit from our comprehensive program. Even experienced professionals should enjoy this refresher course and the opportunity to interact with peers in an informal setting. Attendee registration is $250 and sponsorship opportunities are $1K, $2K, $3K and $5K. (Note: Thanks to those who attended and supported yesterday's European Money Fund Symposium Online. The recording is available for those who missed it, and see our initial coverage below and watch for more in coming days.)
BNY Mellon's Dreyfus money fund complex announced a series of changes to its product lineup, but most notably indicated that it's sticking with Prime funds in its offerings. A press release entitled, "Dreyfus Cash Investment Strategies to Optimize Money Market Fund Range" tells us, "Dreyfus Cash Investment Strategies (Dreyfus CIS), a BNY Mellon Investment Management firm with $254bn in assets under management, ... announced that it will be optimizing its suite of money market funds to meet the evolving needs of cash investors. The enhancements to Dreyfus CIS' money market fund range over the next several months will result in: A streamlined product offering of 19 funds across three fund families to provide investment choice across all major money market asset classes; A uniform pricing structure within each fund family to improve client navigation, as well as reduced management fees in four retail funds and one institutional fund; and, Broader investor eligibility through lower investment minimums in many fund share classes." (On a separate note: Crane Data will also be hosting its European Money Fund Symposium Online on Thursday, Nov. 19 from 10am-12pm Eastern, or 3-5pmGMT. Please join us!)
The Financial Stability Board, "an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system," published a "Holistic Review of the March Market Turmoil," which discusses issues involving money funds and short-term funding and "highlights the need for action to address vulnerabilities from non-bank financial intermediation." The report tells us, "The breadth and dynamics of the economic shock and related liquidity stress in March were unprecedented. As in previous cases, the shock caused a fundamental repricing of risk and a heightened demand for safe assets. However, the stress also led to large and persistent imbalances in the demand for, and supply of, liquidity needed to support intermediation. On the demand side, non-financial corporates attempted to tap capital markets; demand for US dollar liquidity increased from foreign borrowers; non-government money market funds (MMFs) experienced significant outflows; and some open-ended funds also experienced redemptions. On the supply side, reductions in risk appetite, regulatory constraints and operational challenges may have reduced dealers’ capacity to intermediate larger flows in some core funding markets."
Crane Data's latest MFI International shows that assets in European or "offshore" money market mutual funds moved lower again over the past month. They broke above the $1.0 trillion for the first time ever three months ago, hitting a record $1.056 trillion in August. These U.S.-style funds, domiciled in Ireland or Luxemburg and denominated in US Dollars, Pound Sterling and Euros, have decreased by $27.5 billion over the last 30 days (when translated into dollars), but they're up by $133.2 billion (15.2%) year-to-date. Offshore US Dollar money funds, which broke over $500 billion in January, are down $24.2 billion over the last 30 days but up $28.0 billion YTD to $522.4 billion. Euro funds are down E3.6 billion over the past month, and YTD they're up E38.6 billion to E137.3 billion. GBP money funds have risen by L721 million over 30 days, and are up by L22.1billion YTD to L247.0B. U.S. Dollar (USD) money funds (192) account for over half (51.7%) of the "European" money fund total, while Euro (EUR) money funds (94) make up 15.1% and Pound Sterling (GBP) funds (120) total 29.7%. We summarize our latest "offshore" money fund statistics and our Money Fund Intelligence International Portfolio Holdings (which went out to subscribers Monday), below. (Note: For more on European and offshore money funds, register for our European Money Fund Symposium Online, which takes place Thursday, Nov. 19 from 10am-12pm Eastern, or 3-5pmGMT.)
The November issue of our Bond Fund Intelligence, which was sent to subscribers Monday morning, features the lead story, "ICI Covid-19 Report Says Fixed-Income ETFs Proved Resilience," which highlights a recent look at this year's March Madness, and "BlackRock's Novick at SEC Roundtable; SEC Study," which quotes from a recent look at events surrounding the coronavirus shutdown in the spring. BFI also recaps the latest Bond Fund News and includes our Crane BFI Indexes, which show that bond fund yields and returns were flat to lower in October. We excerpt from the new issue below. (Contact us if you'd like to see our Bond Fund Intelligence and BFI XLS spreadsheet, or our Bond Fund Portfolio Holdings data.)
The Securities & Exchange Commission published, "Primer: Money Market Funds and the Commercial Paper Market," earlier this week, which reviews commercial paper, money market funds and the events of March 2020. Authored by Viktoria Baklanova, Isaac Kuznits and Trevor Tatum, the paper explains, "Commercial paper (CP) is unsecured, short-term debt issued for a specified amount to be paid at a specified date. CPs are issued at a discount, with minimum denominations of $100,000 and terms normally ranging from 1 to 270 days. Total U.S. CP outstanding was at $1,007 billion at the end of June 2020, down by $37 billion since the end of 2019.... This is around one half of $2.2 trillion, the all-time high in CP outstanding reached in July 2007."
Crane Data released its November Money Fund Portfolio Holdings Tuesday, and our most recent collection, with data as of October 31, 2020, shows a decrease in every category except Other (Time Deposits) and VRDNs last month. Money market securities held by Taxable U.S. money funds (tracked by Crane Data) decreased by $148.0 billion to $4.624 trillion last month, after decreasing $94.3 billion in September, $12.7 billion in August, $83.1 billion in July and $159.1 billion in June. Money market securities increased $31.6 billion in May, and a staggering $529.4 billion in April and $725.6 billion in March. Treasury securities remained the largest portfolio segment, followed by Repo, then Agencies. CP remained fourth, ahead of CDs, Other/Time Deposits and VRDNs. Below, we review our latest Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics. (Visit our Content center to download the latest files, or contact us to see our latest Portfolio Holdings reports.)
As we mentioned last week, mutual fund trade group the Investment Company Institute published a press release entitled, "Prime Money Market Funds Didn't Trigger Financial Turmoil in March," and a report examining the performance of money market funds during the coronavirus market turmoil earlier this year. Subtitled, "New Paper Shows How Stress in Fixed-Income Markets and Some SEC Reforms Fed into Redemption Pressure," it tells us, "There were serious and widespread dislocations in short-term credit and other fixed-income markets before institutional prime money market funds experienced redemption pressure, and some Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reforms exacerbated -- rather than mitigated -- that pressure, according to 'Experiences of US Money Market Funds During the COVID-19 Crisis,' a new paper from the Investment Company Institute (ICI)." We didn't have a chance to fully cover this news late last week as our monthly products shipped, but we excerpt from the release today.
Crane Data's latest Money Fund Market Share rankings show assets were down for most of the largest U.S. money fund complexes in October. Money market fund assets decreased $46.8 billion, or -1.0%, last month to $4.746 trillion. Assets have fallen by $218.1 billion, or -4.3%, over the past 3 months, but they've increased by $827.2 billion, or 21.3%, over the past 12 months through Oct. 31, 2020. The biggest increases among the 25 largest managers last month were seen by BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, SSGA and Federated Hermes, which grew assets by $10.3 billion, $7.3B, $6.2B and $3.9B, respectively. The largest declines in assets in October were seen by JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Northern and Invesco, which decreased by $23.0 billion, $20.0B, $8.9B and $7.4B, respectively. Our domestic U.S. "Family" rankings are available in our MFI XLS product, our global rankings are available in our MFI International product. The combined "Family & Global Rankings" are available to Money Fund Wisdom subscribers. We review the latest market share totals below, and we also look at money fund yields in October.
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