Crane Web Access
A press release entitled, "Moody's assigns Aaa-mf rating to HSBC US Dollar ESG Liquidity Fund," tells us, "Moody's Investors Service has assigned an Aaa-mf rating to HSBC US Dollar ESG Liquidity Fund, a new low volatility net asset value money market fund, domiciled in Ireland and managed by HSBC Global Asset Management (USA) Inc. This Fund is classified as Article 8 under the European Union Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation and must, as such, promote environmental or social characteristics. The Fund's primary investment objective will be to maintain the principal and to provide shareholders with daily liquidity with an income which is comparable to US Dollar denominated short dated money market interest rates." Moody's explains, "The Aaa-mf rating reflects Moody's view that the Fund will have a strong ability to meet its objectives of providing liquidity and preserving capital. This view is supported by the model portfolio's high scores for each of the key rating factors, including credit quality, asset profile, liquidity and exposure to market risk. The Fund will invest in a diversified portfolio of short-term securities, instruments and obligations which are of high quality at the time of purchase, with an additional focus on the performance of the underlying issuers on a range of ESG (environmental, social, governance) metrics. HSBC Global Asset Management (USA) Inc., the Fund advisor, determines an ESG score for each issuer in the universe, made up of individual E, S and G scores and weighted based on a proprietary model. The Fund's eligible investment universe will be limited to issuers that score in the top three quartiles based on the aggregate ESG score, while the issuers in the bottom decile for each individual component of E, S and G will also be excluded. The Fund's weighted average maturity will be below 60 days and we expect the Fund to maintain a strong liquidity profile supported by high levels of overnight and weekly liquidity in the portfolio. As a result, we expect the Fund to have a very low exposure to market risk." The release adds, "The rating agency expects the Fund will be managed in line with the model portfolio. However, Moody's notes that if the Fund's investment portfolio was to deviate materially from the model portfolio, the Fund's rating could be changed. The Fund will be launched on 12 October 2022. It will operate under the low volatility net asset value (LVNAV) fund structure domiciled in Ireland and offer a same day settlement. Moody's expects modest shareholder concentration risk during the Fund's ramp-up period to diminish as the Fund grows in size and its shareholder base diversifies. HSBC Global Asset Management (USA) Inc., the fund's investment advisor, is part of the asset management business of HSBC Holdings plc that had $595 billion in assets under management worldwide as of 30 June 2022, of which about $146 billion are invested in liquidity funds."
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Crane Web Access News
Jun 05
The June issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Friday morning, features the articles: "Money Fund Assets Resume Record Run; Yields Bottom," which reviews the latest jump in assets and flattening of yields; "BNY, JPM, BlackRock Launch 'OnChain' Tokenized MMFs," which discusses the latest money fund filings; and "European Regulators Push to Increase MF Liquidity Levels," which covers new U.K. and European proposals to strengthen MMF requirements. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Friday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 5/31/26 data. Our June Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Tuesday, June 9, and our June Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Friday, June 12. (Note: Register ASAP for our upcoming Money Fund Symposium, which will take place later this month -- June 24-26 in Jersey City, NJ!)
MFI's "Money Fund Assets" story says, "Money fund assets rebounded strongly in May, rising $193.2 billion to a record $8.292 trillion, according to our Money Fund Intelligence XLS data series. Our Money Fund Intelligence Daily shows money fund assets have increased by another $54.2 billion to $8.346 trillion month-to-date in June (as of 6/4)."
It continues, "According to MFI Daily, assets fell by $108.8 billion in April and $49.3 billion in March. But they increased $99.5 billion in February, $32.9 billion in January, $126.3 billion in December and $132.8 billion in November. MMFs rose $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose $63.7 billion in July and $6.7 billion last June."
We write in our "OnChain" article, "BNY Dreyfus filed to launch an 'onchain' tokenized money market fund, while J.P. Morgan recently went live with its OnChain Liquidity-Token MMF. The SEC filing for BNY Dreyfus On-Chain Liquidity Fund, under the Dreyfus Government Cash Management Funds umbrella, says, 'The fund seeks as high a level of current income as is consistent with the preservation of capital and the maintenance of liquidity."
The story continues, "The fund pursues its investment objective by investing in (i) U.S. Treasury bills, notes, or bonds ..., (ii) overnight repurchase agreements collateralized solely by U.S. Treasury securities and/or cash, and (iii) cash. The fund is a money market fund subject to the maturity, quality, liquidity and diversification requirements of Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and seeks to maintain a stable share price of $1.00. The U.S. Treasury securities in which the fund invests have a remaining maturity of 93 days or less or are issued with a maturity of 93 days or less.'"
Our "European" story says, "The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which regulates markets in the U.K., published a policy paper titled, 'Reforms to Money Market Fund Regulations.' It states, 'Money market funds (MMFs) play an important role in the financial system. MMFs are widely used for cash management and provide an alternative or complement to bank deposits for a broad range of investors, including asset managers, insurers, pension funds, large corporates and local authorities. However, recent periods of market stress have highlighted the need to strengthen the resilience of these funds. The Government, together with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England, have worked actively with international partners, including with the European Commission and at the Financial Stability Board, to enhance MMF resilience so these funds are better able to withstand market disruption.'"
It continues, "The post explains, 'As part of this, the Government and FCA committed to reforming the UK Money Market Fund Regulation (MMFR) regime, to ensure the UK’s regulatory framework appropriately supports the resilience of these markets while maintaining our international competitiveness. These reforms mark an important step forward in enhancing the resilience of the wider non-bank financial sector.'"
MFI also includes the News brief, "Bloomberg: 'Dash for Cash Sends Money-Fund Assets to Record $8.3 Trillion.' The article states, 'Investors boosted the total amount in U.S. money-market funds to a record $8.281 trillion as uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve's monetary policy path fuels demand for cash-like assets. Some $66 billion rushed into the money-market fund industry in the week ending May 28, according to the latest figures from Crane Data LLC.'"
Another News brief, "Barron's Writes Again on Sweeps," tells us, "The article, 'How AI Could Kill Charles Schwab and the Brokerage Industry's Cash Cow,' says, 'Charles Schwab spent a good chunk of its six-hour-long investor day ... explaining to analysts and shareholders how the company is using artificial intelligence to boost its business. Investors, however, are far more focused on whether AI poses a threat to the substantial profits Schwab derives from so-called sweep cash.'"
A third News brief, "Dreyfus Rebrands as BNY Dreyfus," tells us, "A statement, '`BNY Investments Dreyfus Money Market Rebrand,' says, 'Effective May 29, 2026, Dreyfus money market funds will update names, adding ‘BNY’ to recognize the depth of expertise, technology and history brought by Dreyfus as a vital component of the BNY ecosystem. These are part of the BNY Investments Dreyfus family of funds.' (See also, 'Introducing SPARK Future Shares: A New Way to Align Cash with Client Values.')"
A sidebar, "New UBS Stablecoin Reserves," says, "A filing for the UBS Liquid Reserves Fund explains, 'The fund invests only in certain eligible reserve assets that payment stablecoin issuers are permitted to maintain under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (the 'GENIUS Act') and any regulations adopted thereunder. These eligible reserve assets include ... cash, securities issued by the US Treasury with a remaining maturity of 93 days or less ... and overnight repurchase agreements.... The fund primarily intends to serve as a reserve asset for stablecoin issuers.... Shares of the fund are expected to be held primarily by one or more stablecoin issuers as all or a portion of the reserve assets that back the outstanding stablecoins issued to their customers.'"
Our June MFI XLS, with May 31 data, shows total assets jumping $193.2 billion to $8.292 trillion, after decreasing $102.1 billion in April, $56.6 billion in March, increasing $94.0 billion in February, $38.5 billion in January, $123.5 billion in December, $129.3 billion in November, $141.5 billion in October, $100.4 billion in September, $129.9 billion in August, $69.0 billion in July, and $10.1 billion last June.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 3 bps at 3.34%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was down 2 bps at 3.45% in May. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 3.70% and 3.71%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.36% and 0.26% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 5/31/26 on Monday, 6/8.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 42 days (unchanged) and the Crane 100 WAM was unchanged from the previous month at 44 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
May 07
The May issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Thursday morning, features the articles: "Crane Data Celebrates 20th BDay; A Tale of Two Decades," which reviews MFI's two decades of covering the money fund business; "ICI 2026 Fact Book Shows Money Fund Trends in '25," which excerpts from the Investment Company Institute's latest annual statistical compilation; and "JP Morgan Talk of AI Cash Tool Hot Topic on Q1 Calls," which discusses recent earnings call discussions on competition to cash sweeps. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Thursday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 4/30/26 data. Our May Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Monday, May 11, and our May Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Thursday, May 14. (Note: Register ASAP for our upcoming Money Fund Symposium, which will take place next month -- June 24-26 in Jersey City, NJ!)
MFI's "Crane Data's 20th Birthday" story says, "Crane Data hits a milestone this month, celebrating our 20th birthday. While our first decade was dominated by the Great Financial Crisis, zero yield and the threat of regulatory extinction, the last 10 years have seen money fund assets triple. As we've done in some earlier May issues, we'd like to take a moment to review our progress and update you on our efforts."
It continues, "Our company, run by money fund expert Peter Crane and technology guru Shaun Cutts, was launched in May 2006 to bring faster, cheaper and cleaner information to the money fund space. We began by publishing our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, and we've grown to offer a full range of daily and monthly spreadsheets, news, database query systems and reports on U.S. and 'offshore' money funds."
We write in our "ICI 2026 Fact Book" article, "The Investment Company Institute released its '2026 Investment Company Fact Book,' an annual compilation of statistics and commentary on the mutual fund space. Subtitled, 'A Review of Trends and Activities in the Investment Company Industry,' the latest edition tells us, 'With stock markets rising around the globe in 2025 ... worldwide total net assets of equity funds ... increased by 19% to $42.6 trillion at year-end 2025. Bond funds -- which invest primarily in fixed-income securities -- saw their total net assets increase 21% over the same period, somewhat reflecting total returns (capital gains and interest income) in bond markets.... Net assets of money market funds, which are regulated funds restricted to holding short-term, high-quality debt instruments, rose by 15%.' We excerpt from the latest 'Fact Book' below."
It continues, "Discussing 'Worldwide' mutual funds (page 9), ICI writes, 'Worldwide net sales of money market funds declined somewhat in 2025 but still attracted $1.3 trillion in net inflows.... Investors across all geographical regions continued to demonstrate demand for money market funds, with the $901 billion in inflows in the United States accounting for more than two-thirds of total net inflows. Investor demand for money market funds in the Asia-Pacific Region and Europe was $217 billion and $169 billion in 2025, respectively.'"
Our "JP Morgan Talk of AI" story says, "J.P. Morgan Chase released its Q1 2026 Earnings last month (see the transcript here), and during the Q&A they were asked about a new 'AI cash tool,' 'which could potentially result in some consumer deposit pressure as well as drive some impact on increased competition [and] higher deposit betas.'"
The story continues, "JPM Chase CEO Jamie Dimon responds, 'Yes. It's a great question, and obviously, we're in the early stages for this particular product.... The question for us is, how can we make it easier for [clients] to manage their money in a way they're comfortable. Most [people] have money in a checking account and then write a ticket to a money market fund or a deposit account.... That's all we're trying to do.'"
MFI also includes the News brief, "MMFs Fall Again, Record Tax Drop." It says, "Crane Data's MFI XLS shows money fund assets falling $102.1 billion in April to $8.096 trillion, though assets have rebounded strongly month-to-date in May. The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly 'Money Market Fund Assets' report shows money fund assets falling by $11.0 billion to $7.626 trillion. MMFs fell $5.6 billion the previous week, and they fell by a massive $175.8 billion two weeks prior, the largest weekly drop ever, driven by huge April 15 tax-day outflows."
Another News brief, "FASB Proposes Disclosure of Cash, Stablecoin Holdings," tells us, "The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal wrote a piece recently titled, 'Companies Would Need to Disclose Stablecoin Holdings Under FASB Proposal.' It tells us, 'The Financial Accounting Standards Board wants to require companies to disclose significant stablecoin holdings as part of a broader move to have companies break out their different types of cash equivalents. The accounting standard-setter voted ... to propose that all companies must annually disclose the dollar amounts of the significant components of their cash equivalents. These components include investments with maturities of three months or less, like money-market funds, Treasury bills, commercial paper and possibly, stablecoins, for which there are no specific accounting rules at present.'"
A third News brief, "Federated on Digital Treasury Fund," says, "Federated Hermes reported its First Quarter earnings and hosted its Q1'26 earnings call late last week. CEO Chris Donahue says in the press release, 'Investors with interest in capital preservation and liquidity continued to rely on our money market offerings and -- for those interested in moving further out the yield curve ... our ultrashort funds.' On the earnings call, Donahue comments, 'Market conditions remain favorable for cash as an asset class. In addition to the appeal of relative safety in periods of volatility, money market strategies present opportunities to earn attractive yields compared to alternatives like bank deposits and direct investments in T-bills and CP.'"
A sidebar, "MSIM Stablecoin Reserves," says, "A press release titled, 'Morgan Stanley Investment Management Launches Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio,' tells us, 'Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) ... announced the launch of the Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio (MSNXX), part of the Morgan Stanley Institutional Liquidity Funds trust. The Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio is a new government money market fund designed to align with the stablecoin reserves investment requirements of the ... GENIUS Act. The Fund offers payment stablecoin issuers an eligible money market fund option where they can invest their required reserves that back their outstanding payment stablecoins.'"
Our May MFI XLS, with April 30 data, shows total assets fell $102.1 billion to $8.096 trillion, after decreasing $56.6 billion in March, increasing $94.0 billion in February, $38.5 billion in January, $123.5 billion in December, $129.3 billion in November, $141.5 billion in October, $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 last May.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was unchanged at 3.37%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was down 1 bp at 3.47% in April. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 3.73% and 3.74%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.36% and 0.26% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 4/30/26 on Friday, 5/8.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 42 days (up 1 day) and the Crane 100 WAM was up 1 day from the previous month at 44 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
Apr 08
The April issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Wednesday morning, features the articles: "JPM: Corporates Driving MMF Asset Gains; A Look at Fed Z.1," which reviews corporate cash balances and their impact on money fund growth; "Bond Fund Symposium in Boston: Ho & Schneider," which quotes from our recent ultra-short bond fund conference; and "Fidelity Reserves Digital, 5th Stablecoin Reserve Fund," which discusses the latest Stablecoin Reserves money market funds. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Wednesday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 3/31/26 data. Our April Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Friday, April 10, and our April Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Wednesday, April 15.
MFI's "Corporates" story says, "A recent 'Short-Term Fixed Income' from J.P. Morgan Securities' featured a section titled, 'Corporates maintain large liquidity portfolios, and even larger cash balances.' It states, 'As expected, corporations continue to maintain large liquidity portfolios. Based on balance sheet data for S&P 500 non-financial companies, we estimate liquidity portfolio balances as of 4Q25 registered $2.6tn, an increase of $119bn QoQ and $257bn YoY. At these levels, they surpass even the prior peak of $2.5tn in the months after Covid in 2020.'"
The story states, "The brief continues, 'Notably, cash and cash equivalents rose materially, even as investment securities drove most of the increase in liquidity portfolios. We estimate aggregate cash and cash equivalents rose by nearly $117bn last year, reaching $1.38tn by 4Q25.... This marks one of the larger annual increases in cash and cash equivalents, though still behind what we saw in 2020 and 2023. [A]s far as cash levels go, ... this will be the highest amount of cash and cash equivalents corporations have held in at least a decade.'"
We write in the "Bond Fund Symposium Boston," story, "We recently hosted our latest Crane's Bond Fund Symposium in Boston, which brings together ultra-short bond fund managers and securities issuers. The keynote talk, 'Ultra‐Short Bond Funds: Spring Break,' featured J.P. Morgan Securities' Teresa Ho and PIMCO's Jerome Schneider. The latter comments, 'First of all, thanks for being here. Once again, it's obviously a great forum to see friends. And it's important, not just because of where we are today, and we can talk about the factors of where the economy is going, and waking up every moment to see where rates are going, things like that. But ... what we do here is probably described as calm amongst a storm of uncertainty ... [within] the broader landscape.'"
It continues, "He tells us, 'So, my [role at] PIMCO is running short-term low duration strategies in addition to some of our portable alpha strategies.... From that vantage point, I think about the best way to optimize cash and ... shorter duration type of fixed income allocations.' (Note: Thanks again to those who supported Bond Fund Symposium! Attendees and Crane Data subscribers may access the conference binder, Powerpoints and recordings via our 'Bond Fund Symposium 2026 Download Center.')"
Our "Fidelity Reserves" article says, "Fidelity Investments is the 5th money fund manager to launch a Stablecoin Reserves money market fund, following BlackRock's Circle Treasury Reserves, and Stablecoin Reserves offerings from State Street, Goldman Sachs and BNY. A Registration Statement tells us, 'Fidelity Reserves Digital Fund seeks to obtain as high a level of current in come as is consistent with the preservation of capital and liquidity.' (See our March 30 News, 'Arca Capital Management Files for US Treasury Money Mkt Digital Fund,' which says, 'Arca Capital Management filed a Form N-1A registration statement for Arca U.S. Treasury Money Market Digital Fund.')"
It continues, "Fidelity Reserves Digital's Principal Investment Strategies include: 'Investing only in U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds with a remaining maturity of, or issued with a maturity of, 93 days or less, cash, and overnight repurchase agreements fully collateralized by U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds, and other registered government money market funds; Investing only in eligible reserve assets that payment stablecoin issuers are permitted to maintain under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act ('GENIUS Act') and any regulations adopted thereunder; and, Investing in compliance with industry-standard regulatory requirements for money market funds for the quality, maturity, liquidity, and diversification of investments."
MFI also includes the News brief, "MMFs Hit Record $8.279 Tril., Then Dip in Late March. Money market mutual fund assets jumped to a record high of $8.279 trillion on 3/18, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. But assets then fell. They declined by $56.6 billion in March to $8.201 trillion."
Another News brief, "Fed Holds Rates at 3.5-3.75%." It says, "The Federal Reserve's latest FOMC Statement says, 'The Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.5 to 3.75%.' Our Crane 100 Money Fund Index inched lower to 3.48% in March."
A third News brief, "Reuters: War and Record MMF Assets," says, "Reuters writes 'Investors drive US money market fund assets to records as war-related risk fears multiply.' The piece says, 'As the Iran conflict intensifies, the spike in oil prices and rising inflation fears are spurring investors to ditch stocks as too risky and shun traditional safe havens such as gold in favor of money market funds. The result: assets in those ultra-short-term and ultra-safe Treasury funds are now hovering around $8 trillion, according to calculations from providers such as the Investment Company Institute, JPMorgan Chase and Crane Data.'"
A sidebar, "Donahue Talks Tokenized," says, "Federated Hermes' Chris Donahue spoke recently at the '2026 RBC Capital Markets Global Financial Institutions Conference,' and made a number of comments on tokenization. He says, 'The BNY, Goldman deal is where we have our regular fund. BNY makes a token. The token invests, in effect, money in the fund, so the money fund's the same as it was five minutes ago, and it participates in Goldman's platform. That's another whole deal. Archax is one we're doing in Europe.... We have the structures inside to actually tokenize a money fund.'"
Our April MFI XLS, with March 31 data, shows total assets fell $56.6 billion to $8.201 trillion, after increasing $94.0 billion in February, $38.5 billion in January, $123.5 billion in December, $129.3 billion in November, $141.5 billion in October, $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 last April.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 1 bp at 3.37%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was down 1 bp at 3.48% in March. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 3.74% and 3.74%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.36% and 0.26% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 3/31/26 on Thursday, 4/9.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 41 days (up 1 day) and the Crane 100 WAM was up 1 day from the previous month at 43 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
Feb 06
The February issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Friday morning, features the articles: "MMF Assets Cool Down in January; Seasonal Trends," which discusses the slowing growth in money funds; "Federated Hermes' Q4'25 Call Talks Flows, Tokenized MMFs," which cites highlights from the recent earnings call; and "PFII on CA, NY, NH and PA LGIPs; Seeking Disclosures," which reviews a recent article from The Public Funds Investment Institute. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Friday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 1/31/25 data. Our February Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Tuesday, Feb. 10, and our February Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Friday, Feb. 13.
MFI's "MMF Assets Cool Down" story says, "Money fund assets increased by $38.5 billion to a record $8.160 trillion in January, according to our Money Fund Intelligence XLS. The asset slowdown follows 5 straight months of $100+ billion increases, but normally January sees outflows. We show the average monthly change in money fund assets over the past 15 years (2011-2025) in the chart below. January is the second weakest month (after June) and normally sees outflows of about $14 billion. (Note that March and April are normally very weak, but these were inflated by huge inflows in 2020 due to the Covid shutdown and 2023 due to the SVB bankruptcy.)"
The story continues, "Assets increased by $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose $63.7 billion in July, $6.7 billion in June and $100.9 billion in May. MMFs fell by $24.4 billion in April, but rose $2.8 trillion in March, $94.2 billion in February and $52.8 billion last January. 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."
We write in the "Federated," story, "Federated Hermes reported it Q4'25 earnings and hosted its Q4'25 earnings call late last week. In the press release, President & CEO J. Christopher Donahue, says, 'Federated Hermes' record assets at year-end were again driven by money market asset increases, as our liquidity products provided attractive cash management resources and opportunities for risk adjusted returns. We also continued to see ... interest in our growing range of investment solutions beyond mutual funds, including ETFs, CITs and SMAs.'"
It adds, "Donahue explains on the call, 'We reached another record high at the end of 2025 for total money market assets, which increased by $30 billion to reach $683 billion. Money market fund assets increased by $16 billion or 3% in Q4 to reach a record high of $508 billion. Money market separate accounts increased by $14 billion in the fourth quarter, reflecting seasonal patterns. Market conditions remain favorable for cash as an asset class. In addition to the appeal of relative safety in periods of volatility, money market strategies present opportunities to earn attractive yields compared to alternatives such as bank deposits and direct investments in T-bills and commercial paper.'"
Our "LGIP" article says, "The Public Funds Investment Institute (PFII) writes on 'LGIPs: New Pools and Manager Changes.' They explain, 'In October 2024 we wrote about local government investment pools changing managers. It's unusual but not unheard of in the LGIP business. Sometimes an LGIP simply replaces a manager and sometimes local governments band together to create a new fund to bring in a manager or expand competition in a state. We've seen both recently.'"
It continues, "The PFII writes, 'California: CalFIT (California Fixed Income Trust) is a new LGIP that began offering a stable value portfolio in the fall. It invests in government and high grade corporate and bank obligations and is managed by Chandler Asset Management, a California based firm that entered the LGIP business in 2024 when it replaced Public Trust Advisors as manager of the FL SAFE LGIP in Florida. As of December 31, 2025, CalFIT reported $331 million in assets. California has a long-established state-sponsored and three other local sponsored LGIPs. Large states are well able to support multiple LGIPs. California joins Florida and Texas in this regard.'"
MFI also includes the News brief, "Money Fund Yields Stabilize at 3.5%, Lowest Since 11/22." It says, "Yields (7-day, annualized, simple, net) fell by 8 bps to 3.50% on average during January (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index). Fund yields should remain flat given that the Fed left rates unchanged at its Jan. 28 meeting. Yields haven't been below 3.5% since Nov. 2022. They're down from a recent high of 5.20% in Nov. 2023. MMF yields were 3.58% on 12/31/25, 3.94% on 9/30, 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."
Another News brief, "Fed Z.1 Shows Jump in Household, Corporate Assets; T-Bills Surge in Q3," comments, "The Federal Reserve's latest quarterly 'Z.1 Financial Accounts of the United States' statistical survey (a.k.a. 'Flow of Funds') includes 4 tables on money market mutual funds. The Third Quarter 2025 edition shows that Total MMF Assets increased by $293 billion to $7.774 trillion in Q3’25. The Household Sector, by far the largest investor segment with $5.035 trillion, saw the biggest asset increase in Q3, followed by Nonfinancial Corporate Business and Other Financial Business (formerly Funding Corps). The Fed’s latest Z.1 numbers, which contain one of the few looks at money fund investor segments available, also showed noticeable increases for the Mutual Funds and Rest of the World categories in Q3 2025."
A third News brief, "MMFs in Retirement Plans Approach $1 Trillion," says: "The Investment Company Institute published, 'Retirement Assets Total $48.1 Trillion in Third Quarter 2025,' which includes data tables showing that money market funds held in retirement accounts jumped to $987 billion (up from $966 billion) in the latest quarter, accounting for 13% of the total $7.321 trillion in money funds. MMFs represent just 6.8% of the total $14.5 trillion of mutual funds in retirement accounts."
A sidebar, "BlackRock Q4 Call on Cash," says, "BlackRock CFO Martin Small comments on their latest earnings call, 'BlackRock Cash Management saw $74 billion of net inflows in the fourth quarter and $131 billion in 2025, driven by U.S. Government, International, Prime and Circle Reserve Funds. BlackRock’s platform is anchored by growth engines tied to the long-term expansion of global capital markets and fast-growing client product channels.'"
Our February MFI XLS, with January 31 data, shows total assets rose $38.5 billion to a record high $8.160 trillion, after increasing $123.5 billion in December, $129.3 billion in November, $141.5 billion in October, $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 last February.
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 7 bps at 3.40%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was down 8 bps at 3.50% in January. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 3.77% and 3.77%. 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 1/31/26 on Monday, 2/9.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 39 days (up 1 day) and the Crane 100 WAM was up 2 days from the previous month at 42 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)