Money Fund Intelligence XLS

Money Fund Intelligence XLS Sample

Crane Data released its October Money Fund Portfolio Holdings Friday, and our most recent collection, with data as of September 30, 2020, shows a decrease in every category except VRDNs last month. Money market securities held by Taxable U.S. money funds (tracked by Crane Data) decreased by $94.3 billion to $4.772 trillion last month, after decreasing $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.)

Among taxable money funds, Treasury securities decreased by $6.3 billion (-0.25%) to $2.461 trillion, or 51.6% of holdings, after increasing $3.1 billion in August, decreasing $79.9 billion in July and increasing $60.8 billion in June. Repurchase Agreements (repo) decreased by $6.7 billion (-64%) to $1.041 trillion, or 21.8% of holdings, after increasing $60.8 billion in August, increasing $40.0 billion in July, and decreasing $124.3 billion in June. Government Agency Debt decreased by $28.1 billion (-3.5%) to $768.4 billion, or 16.1% of holdings, after decreasing $37.6 billion in August, $45.1 billion in July and $65.2 billion in June. Repo, Treasuries and Agencies totaled $4.271 trillion, representing a massive 89.5% of all taxable holdings.

Money funds' holdings of CP, CDs and Other (mainly Time Deposits) fell in September, breaking below the $500 billion level for the first time since December 2018, while VDRNs saw assets increase. Commercial Paper (CP) decreased $11.6 billion (-4.8%) to $231.9 billion, or 4.9% of holdings, after decreasing $32.5 billion in August, $10.7 billion in July and $6.5 billion in June. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) fell by $20.8 billion (-11.8%) to $156.1 billion, or 3.3% of taxable assets, after decreasing $19.0 billion in August, $12.3 billion in July and $9.1 billion in June. Other holdings, primarily Time Deposits, decreased $21.0 billion (-18.2%) to $94.6 billion, or 2.0% of holdings, after increasing $15.3 billion in August, $22.3 billion in July and decreasing by $13.7 billion in June. VRDNs increased to $94.6 billion, or 0.4% of assets, from $19.1 billion the previous month. (Note: This total is VRDNs for taxable funds only. We will publish Tax Exempt MMF holdings separately late Tuesday.)

Prime money fund assets tracked by Crane Data dropped $149.0 billion to $987.0 billion, or 20.7% of taxable money funds' $4.772 trillion total. Among Prime money funds, CDs represent 15.8% (up from 15.6% a month ago), while Commercial Paper accounted for 23.5% (up from 21.4%). The CP totals are comprised of: Financial Company CP, which makes up 14.3% of total holdings, Asset-Backed CP, which accounts for 5.3%, and Non-Financial Company CP, which makes up 3.9%. Prime funds also hold 6.4% in US Govt Agency Debt, 27.5% in US Treasury Debt, 5.0% in US Treasury Repo, 0.6% in Other Instruments, 5.6% in Non-Negotiable Time Deposits, 4.9% in Other Repo, 6.4% in US Government Agency Repo and 1.0% in VRDNs.

Government money fund portfolios totaled $2.616 trillion (54.8% of all MMF assets), up $111.0 billion from $2.505 trillion in August, while Treasury money fund assets totaled another $1.170 trillion (24.5%), down from $1.226 trillion the prior month. Government money fund portfolios were made up of 27.0% US Govt Agency Debt, 11.7% US Government Agency Repo, 46.1% US Treasury debt, 14.9% in US Treasury Repo, 0.2% in VRDNs and 0.1% in Investment Company . Treasury money funds were comprised of 84.1% US Treasury Debt and 15.8% in US Treasury Repo. Government and Treasury funds combined now total $3.786 trillion, or 79.3% of all taxable money fund assets.

European-affiliated holdings (including repo) decreased by $33.5 billion in September to $626.4 billion; their share of holdings fell to 13.1% from last month's 13.6%. Eurozone-affiliated holdings fell to $430.0 billion from last month's $456.7 billion; they account for 9.0% of overall taxable money fund holdings. Asia & Pacific related holdings decreased $21.1 billion to $227.0 billion (4.8% of the total). Americas related holdings fell $37.0 billion to $3.915 trillion and now represent 82.0% of holdings.

The overall taxable fund Repo totals were made up of: US Treasury Repurchase Agreements (up $29.9 billion, or 5.0%, to $623.4 billion, or 13.1% of assets); US Government Agency Repurchase Agreements (down $22,9 billion, or -5.8%, to $369.4 billion, or 7.7% of total holdings), and Other Repurchase Agreements (down $13.7 billion, or -22.2%, from last month to $48.0 billion, or 1.0% of holdings). The Commercial Paper totals were comprised of Financial Company Commercial Paper (down $2.0 billion to $141.5 billion, or 3.0% of assets), Asset Backed Commercial Paper (down $3.2 billion to $52.3 billion, or 1.1%), and Non-Financial Company Commercial Paper (down $6.4 billion to $38.2 billion, or 0.8%).

The 20 largest Issuers to taxable money market funds as of Sept. 30, 2020, include: the US Treasury ($2,477.9 billion, or 51.9%), Federal Home Loan Bank ($460.7B, 9.7%), Fixed Income Clearing Co ($144.9B, 3.0%), BNP Paribas ($132.9B, 2.8%), Federal National Mortgage Association ($113.7B, 2.4%), Federal Farm Credit Bank ($98.3B, 2.1%), RBC ($96.7B, 2.0%), JP Morgan ($92.7B, 1.9%), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Co ($74.7B, 1.6%), Barclays ($64.0B, 1.3%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc ($62.3B, 1.3%), Credit Agricole ($50.5B, 1.1%), Citi ($47.9B, 1.0%), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Co ($47.0B, 1.0%), Societe Generale ($42.3B, 0.9%), Toronto-Dominion Bank ($39.5B, 0.8%), Bank of Montreal ($37.5B, 0.8%), Bank of America ($37.5B, 0.8%), HSBC ($31.9B, 0.7%) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ($28.5B, 0.6%).

In the repo space, the 10 largest Repo counterparties (dealers) with the amount of repo outstanding and market share (among the money funds we track) include: Fixed Income Clearing Co ($144.8B, 13.9%), BNP Paribas ($120.8B, 11.6%), JP Morgan ($83.1B, 8.0%), RBC ($78.8B, 7.6%), Barclays ($46.6B, 4.5%), Credit Agricole ($42.6B, 4.1%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group ($42.4B, 4.1%), Citi ($39.4B, 3.8%), Bank of America ($35.5B, 3.4%) and Societe Generale ($32.9B, 3.2%).

The 10 largest issuers of "credit" -- CDs, CP and Other securities (including Time Deposits and Notes) combined -- include: Toronto-Dominion Bank ($23.7B, 5.6%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group ($19.9B, 4.7%), RBC ($17.9B, 4.2%), Barclays ($17.4B, 4.1%), Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd ($17.3B, 4.1%), Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank ($16.3B, 3.9%), Credit Suisse ($12.2B, 2.9%), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ($12.0B, 2.8%) and BNP Paribas ($12.0B, 2.8%).

The 10 largest CD issuers include: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Co ($14.2B, 9.1%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc ($14.1B, 9.0%), Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank ($10.2B, 6.6%), Bank of Montreal ($10.2B, 6.5%), Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd ($9.5B, 6.1%), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ($7.7B, 4.9%), Toronto-Dominion Bank ($7.2B, 4.6%), Credit Suisse ($7.1B, 4.5%), Svenska Handelsbanken ($5.9B, 3.7%) and Credit Mutuel ($5.2B, 3.3%).

The 10 largest CP issuers (we include affiliated ABCP programs) include: Toronto-Dominion Bank ($16.2B, 8.0%), RBC ($10.3B, 5.1%), JP Morgan ($9.6B, 4.8%), Societe Generale ($8.3B, 4.1%), Citi ($7.6B, 3.8%), BNP Paribas ($7.5B, 3.7%), BPCE SA ($7.0B, 3.5%), NRW.Bank ($6.6B, 3.3%), Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank ($6.1B, 3.0%) and Toyota ($5.3B, 2.6%).

The largest increases among Issuers include: Fixed Income Clearing Corp (up $31.7B to $144.9B), US Treasury (up $10.4B to $2,477.9B), Barclays PLC (up $4.3B to $64.0B), BNP Paribas (up $3.7B to $132.9B), HSBC (up $3.4B to $31.9B), ABN Amro Bank (up $2.9B to $17.4B), Deutsche Bank AG (up $1.7B to $19.0B), JP Morgan (up $1.5B to $92.7B), Rabobank (up $1.4B to $9.8B) and Natixis (up $1.0B to $25.5B).

The largest decreases among Issuers of money market securities (including Repo) in September were shown by: the Federal Home Loan Bank (down $30.7B to $460.7B), Credit Agricole (down $22.5B to $50.5B), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (down $9.6B to $74.7B), Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd (down $8.2B to $26.7B), DNB ASA (down $7.9B to $8.1B), Bank of Nova Scotia (down $6.4B to $20.2B), Citi (down $5.9B to $47.9B), RBC (down $5.8B to $96.7B), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (down $5.6B to $62.3B) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (down $4.2B to $28.5B).

The United States remained the largest segment of country-affiliations; it represents 77.1% of holdings, or $3.679 trillion. France (5.8%, $276.0B) was number two, and Canada (4.9%, $235.3B) was third. Japan (4.5%, $216.3B) occupied fourth place. The United Kingdom (2.6%, $125.5B) remained in fifth place. The Netherlands (1.3%, $59.7B) was in sixth place, followed by Germany (1.2%, $58.1B), Sweden (0.7%, $31.1B), Switzerland (0.6%, $30.0B) and Australia (0.6%, $26.2B). (Note: Crane Data attributes Treasury and Government repo to the dealer's parent country of origin, though money funds themselves "look-through" and consider these U.S. government securities. All money market securities must be U.S. dollar-denominated.)

As of September 30, 2020, Taxable money funds held 35.7% (down from 36.0%) of their assets in securities maturing Overnight, and another 9.5% maturing in 2-7 days (up from 6.9% last month). Thus, 45.2% in total matures in 1-7 days. Another 14.3% matures in 8-30 days, while 13.0% matures in 31-60 days. Note that close to three-quarters, or 72.5% of securities, mature in 60 days or less (down slightly from last month), the dividing line for use of amortized cost accounting under SEC regulations. The next bucket, 61-90 days, holds 9.6% of taxable securities, while 15.8% matures in 91-180 days, and just 2.2% matures beyond 181 days.

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Money Fund Intelligence XLS News

Mar 07
 

The March issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent out to subscribers Thursday morning, features the articles: "WisdomTree, XD Attempt Digital, Blockchain MMFs," which covers new money funds using blockchain technology; "FSB Reviews Global Money Fund Reforms; FHI's 10-K," which quotes from the regulatory discussion outside the U.S.; and, "Examining the Shift in Fed Repo to T-Bills, Other Repo," which reviews the dramatic shift in MMF portfolios. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Thursday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 2/29/24 data. Our March Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Monday, March 11, and our March Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Thursday, March 14. (Note: Register ASAP for our Bond Fund Symposium, which is March 25-26 in Philadelphia. We hope to see you in Philly!)

MFI's "WisdomTree, XD" article says, "A pair of money market mutual fund attempting to use blockchain technology have launched recently. WisdomTree Government Money Market Digital Fund and XD Treasury Money Market Fund join Franklin OnChain US Govt Money Fund, which launched in 2019, in what appear to be experiments attempting to take advantage of the buzz surrounding digital assets and currencies."

"WisdomTree says on its website, "Why WTGXX? Provide investors a high level of current income consistent with the preservation of capital and liquidity and the maintenance of a stable net asset value through investments in short-term government securities. It has a 0.25% expense ratio and only a $1 minimum to invest. Shares will be secondarily recorded using on-chain recordkeeping on the Stellar or Ethereum blockchain. The Fund will not directly or indirectly invest in any assets that rely on blockchain technology, such as cryptocurrencies. The Fund uses blockchain technology to maintain a secondary record of its shares. The Fund will be available exclusively through the WisdomTree Prime financial app."

We write in our FSB Reviews article, "A press release titled, 'FSB review finds uneven implementation of money market fund reforms,' tells us, 'The Financial Stability Board (FSB) ... published its 'Thematic Review on Money Market Fund (MMF) Reforms.' The review takes stock of the measures adopted or planned by FSB member jurisdictions in response to the 2021 FSB report, Policy Proposals to Enhance MMF Resilience. The review does not assess the effectiveness of those policy measures in addressing risks to financial stability, as this will be the focus of separate follow-up work by the FSB in 2026.'"

It tells us, "Their release claims, 'The main MMF vulnerability identified by jurisdictions is the mismatch between the liquidity of fund asset holdings and the redemption terms offered to investors, which makes MMFs susceptible to runs from sudden and disruptive redemptions. To address vulnerabilities, the 2021 FSB report provided a menu of policy options including: imposing on redeeming investors the cost of their redemptions; enhancing the ability to absorb credit losses; addressing regulatory thresholds that may give rise to cliff effects; and reducing liquidity transformation.'"

Our "Examining the Shift" piece states, "Looking back over the past 12 months, the shift in money market fund holdings from Fed repo into T-bills has been massive. On Jan. 31, 2023, taxable money funds held $1.974 trillion in repo with the Fed, which rose to over $2.211 trillion in March 2023, but has since declined to $582.6 billion on 1/31/24. Treasury holdings rose from $1.051 trillion a year earlier to $2.357 trillion over this time."

It continues, "The Wall Street Journal writes that, 'Treasury Markets Are Losing Their Shock Absorber.' They explain, 'Participation is dwindling in a Federal Reserve program that has helped the U. S. government limit its borrowing costs, a development that many investors say presages higher interest rates and larger swings in the $26 trillion Treasury market. The overnight reverse repurchase facility, known on Wall Street as reverse repo, enables large financial firms such as money-market funds to briefly swap extra cash for high-quality securities on the central bank's balance sheet and pocket some interest. The Fed program has been used heavily in recent years, at one point hitting $2.5 trillion of daily balances, but that number has shrunk steadily and recently fell below $500 billion.'"

MFI also includes the News brief, "MMF Assets Hit Record $6.459 Tril." It states, "Money market mutual fund assets rose another $50.0 billion in February to a record $​6.​471 trillion. Over the past 12 months, money funds have risen a massive $​1.203 trillion, or 22.​8%, with Retail MMFs rising by $​568.2 billion (32.5%) and Inst MMFs rising by $​628.5 billion (18.58%). ICI's separate (and smaller) weekly series shows assets rising $49.9 billion last week to a record $6.059 trillion."

Another News brief, "JPM Looks at Corporate Cash, MMFs," quotes J.P. Morgan's latest 'Short- Term Market Outlook and Strategy,' which features a brief titled, 'Corporates are keeping more cash in their portfolios.' It says, "JPM's update shows the cash investment portfolios of the `5 largest tech companies -- AAPL, META, AMZN, MSFT and GOOG -- with $80.6 billion in money market funds."

A third News brief, "Feb. Portfolio Holdings: Plunge in Repo, Jump in Treasury. Our latest Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics show that Repo holdings plummeted while Treasuries, Time Deposits and Agencies jumped. Repo continued its steep slide, dropping $163.2 billion, after a brief rebound the month prior; it remains the largest portfolio segment. Treasuries increased by $104.7 billion, still ranking in the No. 2 spot, but barely. Agencies were the third largest segment, CP remained fourth, ahead of CDs, Other/Time Deposits and VRDNs."

A sidebar, "Bloomberg on Wall of Cash," says, "Bloomberg writes, '`A $6 Trillion Wall of Cash Is Holding Firm as Fed Delays Cuts.' It says, 'Investors are plowing billions into money-market funds by the day .... For an asset class that many market prognosticators all but left for dead to start the year, there’s still plenty of life left in cash. Investors have added $128 billion to US money-market funds since the start of the year, ICI data show.... It's a stark contrast to just a couple of months ago, when one of the hottest questions on Wall Street was where investors would redeploy all their cash holdings once the Federal Reserve started cutting rates.'"

Our March MFI XLS, with February 29 data, shows total assets increased $50.0 billion to a record $6.459 trillion, after increasing $87.0 billion in January, $24.5 billion in December and $219.8 billion in November. Assets decreased $39.3 billion in October, but increased $77.8 billion in September, $104.2 billion in August, $21.0 billion in July, $20.3 billion in June, $152.7 billion in May, $56.5 billion in April and $345.1 billion in March."

Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 2 bps to 5.04%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was down 2 bps to 5.15% in February. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 both averaged 5.41%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.37% and 0.26% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses on Friday once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 2/29/24.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 38 days (unchanged from previous month) and the Crane 100 WAM was up 1 bp at 39 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)

Feb 07
 

The February issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent out to subscribers Wednesday morning, features the articles: "MMF Assets Jump in January; Hitting Record $6.4 Trillion," which reviews the continued inflows into MMFs; "Federated Money Market Celebrates 50th; Q4 Earnings," which covers Federated Hermes' most recent earnings and their 50th year in MMFs; and, "BlackRock, Schwab Shed Light on MMF Shifts in Q4 Earnings," which reviews the latest earnings calls mentioning MMFs. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Wednesday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 1/31/24 data. Our February Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Friday, February 9, and our February Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Wednesday, February 14.

MFI's "MMF Assets Jump" article says, "Money fund assets continued their record run in January, normally the weakest month of the year, after rising by a record $1.1 trillion in 2024. Our MFI XLS shows assets rising $87.0 billion, or 1.4%, to a record $6.405 trillion in the latest month. Assets continue higher in February too, rising $18.3B in the first 5 days of the new month, according to our MFI Daily."

It continues, "Over the past 12 months through 1/31/24, money fund assets have jumped by $1.200 trillion, or 23.0%. Taxable Retail MMFs increased by $591.3 billion, or 34.8% to $2.289 trillion, while Taxable Inst MMFs increased by $601.7 billion, or 17.8% to $3.990 trillion. Tax Exempt MFs inched up $7.4 billion, or 6.2% to $126.5 billion <b:>`_."

We write in our Federated 50th article, "Federated Hermes announced the 50th anniversary of Money Market Management, the company's first and one of the industry's oldest money market mutual funds. A press release entitled, 'Federated Hermes, Inc. celebrates 50 years of money market innovation' explains, 'Federated Hermes, Inc. (FHI), a global leader in active, responsible investing, today celebrates 50 years of money market innovations focused on improving client experiences and investment outcomes. Over five decades, Federated Hermes has maintained a steadfast dedication to products and services that are vetted through diligent credit analysis and broad diversification -- providing clients with competitive yields and daily liquidity.'"

It tells us, "President & CEO J. Christopher Donahue comments, 'For 50 years, through seasons of volatility and calm, Federated Hermes has confidently managed money market funds as the ballast in our ship. Our team of investment management professionals has maintained an unwavering focus on providing sound and innovative cash management solutions for our clients. With an average of 25 years of investment experience, the investment professionals on our liquidity team have provided rigorous money market management through a variety of interest-rate environments, regulatory changes, bull and bear economies and changing geopolitical conditions.'"

Our "BlackRock, Schwab" piece states, "BlackRock and Schwab both discussed money funds on their latest earnings calls, and show that 'cash sorting,' or the shift into money funds from bank deposits, remains alive and well. On BlackRock's latest earnings and earnings call, CFO Martin Small explains, 'BlackRock's cash management platform saw $33 billion of net inflows in the fourth quarter and $79 billion of net inflows in 2023. We're pleased with the continued strong growth in our cash and liquidity business. With year-end AUM up 14%, or over $90 billion year on year, we're leveraging our scale and integrated cash offerings to engage with clients who are using these products not only to manage liquidity but also to earn attractive returns.'"

It continues, "During the Q&A, one analyst asked about fixed income inflows, and President Rob Kapito responds, 'I wake up every morning salivating about the $7 trillion that's sitting in money market accounts that's waiting to move. And in order for it to move, you have to have a wide plate of products.... ETFs are becoming the investor's preferred vehicle with access to investments.... So, I think there's a huge, huge runway for fixed income.... The wind is right behind our back for that.'"

MFI also includes the News brief, "American Funds Central Cash to Convert to Govt to Avoid Liquidity Fees." which says, "Capital Group's $144.4 billion American Funds Central Cash fund, the largest Prime Inst money market fund, has filed to convert to a Government MMF, making it the first major casualty of the latest round of the SEC's pending Money Fund Reforms. Its Form N-1A filing tells us, 'On or about June 7, 2024, the fund intends to operate as a government money market fund pursuant to rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act.'"

Another News brief quotes, "Investors' Business Daily on 'How The Best Online Brokers Boost Your Cash Holdings.' They state, 'Online brokers face stiff competition when it comes to paying clients to park their idle cash. They've had to up the ante as interest rates have risen and investors had plenty of cash ... options to choose from. Cash management options are a priority for online investors.'"

A third News brief, "The WSJ's 'Charles Schwab Just Survived a Year From Hell. The Trouble Isn’t Over Yet,' tells us, 'Schwab, founded some 50 years ago, grew from a discount brokerage for Main Street into a personal-finance supermarket.... While Schwab cut fees and made less revenue from trading, it minted money sweeping cash from its brokerage customers into bank deposits that paid out little interest. When rates were low, it worked well for Schwab. Customers were content keeping their money at the bank when there were few alternatives for better yield.'"

A sidebar, "Worldwide MF Assets $9.9T," says, "The Investment Company Institute's, 'Worldwide Regulated Open-Fund Assets and Flows, Third Quarter 2023' shows that money fund assets globally jumped by $225.3 billion, or 2.3%, in Q3'23 to $9.944 trillion. The increases were led by a sharp jump in money funds in U.S., while Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico and Canada also rose. Meanwhile, money funds in China and Australia were lower. MMF assets worldwide increased by $1.639 trillion, or 19.7%, in the 12 months through 9/30/23, and money funds in the U.S. now represent 57.1% of worldwide assets."

Our February MFI XLS, with January 31 data, shows total assets increased $87.0 billion to a record $6.405 trillion, after increasing $24.5 billion in December and $219.8 billion in November. Assets decreased $39.3 billion in October, but increased $77.8 billion in September, $104.2 billion in August, $21.0 billion in July, $20.3 billion in June, $152.7 billion in May, $56.5 billion in April, $345.1 billion in March and $56.0 billion in February."

Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 2 bps to 5.06%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was down 3 bps to 5.17% in January. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 both averaged 5.43%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.37% and 0.26% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses on Thursday once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 1/31/24.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 38 days (up 1 day from previous month) and the Crane 100 WAM was also unchanged at 38 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)

Jan 08
 

The January issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent out to subscribers Monday morning, features the articles: "Record '23 for Money Funds: Assets, Revenues & Dividends," which reviews the record-setting year for MMFs in 2023; "Wall Street's Enthralled by $6 Trillion in MMFs, But Mirage," which attempts to debunk the "Wall of Cash" theory; and, "Top Money Funds of 2023; 15th Annual MFI Awards," which reviews the best performing MMFs of 2023. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Monday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 12/31/23 data. Our January Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Wednesday, January 10, and our January Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Tuesday, January 16.

MFI's "Record '23" article says, "Money funds had perhaps the best year in their 52-year history in 2023, with assets surging $1.1 trillion to record $6.3 trillion, yields rising to over 5% and revenues jumping to well over $15.0 billion. Money fund investors collected more in dividends this year than they had in the prior 15 years combined (almost $300 billion), and, predictions of Fed cuts and outflows notwithstanding, the party shows no signs of stopping."

It continues, "The Financial Times' article, 'Stampede Into Money Market Funds Sparks Fee Bonanza for Asset Managers' explains, 'Record inflows into US money market funds in 2023 have triggered a multi-billion-dollar fee bonanza for the asset management industry, which for years treated the product as a loss-leader. US money market fund providers -- such as Fidelity, Vanguard and Charles Schwab -- collectively earned $7.6bn in fees in 2023 as assets passed $6.3tn, according to government figures. That was more than $1bn higher than in 2022 and a jump of around 35% from 2021, before US interest rates began to rise, according to the data from the Office for Financial Research.'"

We write in our Wall Street's Enthralled article, "Over the past month, a myriad of articles and financial news shows have cited the $6 trillion in money funds as a reason stocks will go higher. We've been hearing this 'Wall of Cash' theory for decades, and still don't buy it. (They never mention the $17 trillion in bank deposits nor the fact that almost 2/3 of the MMF total is Institutional.) Below, we quote from a number of the recent mentions, and look at whether they have any merit."

It tells us, "One of the few that gets it right is Bloomberg's 'Stock Skeptics Say $6 Trillion Cash Waiting on Sidelines Is a Mirage.' It says, 'One often-made argument in favor of stocks says investors should dive in before roughly $6 trillion of money-market cash gets redeployed into equity assets globally. But buying the theory requires a big leap of faith -- there's significantly less out there to actually fund riskier gambles. So say a pack of stock skeptics who, while not counseling selling out of the market, warn that some of the bull cases going around suffer from some optimistic framings.'"

Our "Top Money Funds" piece states, "This issue recognizes the top performing money funds, ranked by total returns, for calendar year 2023, as well as the top funds for the past 5‐year and 10‐year periods. We present the funds below with our annual Money Fund Intelligence Awards. These are given to the No. 1‐ranked funds based on 1‐year, 5‐year and 10‐year returns, through Dec. 31, 2023, in each of our major fund categories -- Prime Institutional, Government Institutional, Treasury Institutional, Prime Retail, Government Retail, Treasury Retail and Tax‐Exempt."

It continues, "The Top-Performing Prime Institutional fund (and fund overall) was BlackRock Cash Inst MMF SL (BISXX), which returned 5.38% <b:>The Top-Performing Prime Institutional fund (and fund overall) was BlackRock Cash Inst MMF SL (BISXX), which returned 5.38%. Excluding private and internal funds, the best performer in 2023 was Western Asset Prem Inst Liquid Res Capital (WAAXX) with a return of 5.35%. Among Prime Retail funds, Allspring Money Market Fund Premier (WMPXX) had the best return in 2023 (5.28%). (Our Crane 100 Money Fund Index returned 4.90% in 2023.)"

MFI also includes the News brief, "MF Assets Continue Record Run," which says, "Our MFI XLS shows assets rising $24.5 billion, or 0.4%, to a record $6.312 trillion in December. For 2023, MMFs are up $1.143 trillion (22.1%) with Taxable Retail MMFs up $603.3B (36.9) and Taxable Inst MMFs up $528.0B (15.5%). Assets continue jumping in January too, rising $66.5B to a record $6.367T in the first 4 days of the New Year, according to our MFI Daily."

Another News brief states, "Bloomberg Interviews Wells Fargo's Vanessa McMichael in, '2023 the Year for Money Market Funds.' McMichael says, 'This year has undoubtedly been the year of the money market funds. Right now, money market funds are sitting at about $6 trillion.... At the end of 2019, total money market fund assets were only $3 trillion.... There's been about $1 trillion in cash that has flown into money market funds throughout this year.... You can't deny the value.... Over the past couple of months, money market fund yields have remained stable while the rest of the curve has continued ... to decline.... But ... we think that [corporate] investors do need to think about extending duration.'"

A third News brief, "Dec. Portfolio Holdings: Treasuries Jump Again, Repo Slides," says, "Our latest Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics show that Treasury holdings surged again in November while Repo fell. Treasuries jumped by over $250 billion, ranking in the No. 2 spot. Agencies were the third largest segment, CP remained fourth, ahead of CDs, Other/Time Deposits and VRDNs."

A sidebar, "Reuters on $6 Tril. Cash Hoard," says, "Reuters' 'A $6 trillion cash hoard could fuel more U.S. stock gains as Fed pivots,' explains, 'Investors wondering whether markets can continue their torrid rally are eyeing one important factor that could boost assets: a nearly $6 trillion pile of cash on the sidelines. Soaring yields have pulled cash into money markets and other short-term instruments.... Total MMF assets hit a record $5.9 trillion on Dec. 6, according to ICI.'"

Our January MFI XLS, with December 31 data, shows total assets increased $24.5 billion to $6.312 trillion, after increasing $219.8 billion in November, decreasing $39.3 billion in October, increasing $77.8 billion in September, $104.2 billion in August, $21.0 billion in July, $20.3 billion in June, $152.7 billion in May, $56.5 billion in April, $345.1 billion in March, $56.0 billion in February and $22.5 billion in January."

Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was unchanged at 5.08%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was unchanged at 5.20% in December. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 both averaged 5.46%. Charged Expenses averaged 0.37% and 0.26% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses on Tuesday once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 12/31/23.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 37 days (up 2 days from previous month) and the Crane 100 WAM was also up 3 at 38 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)

Dec 28
 

As we enjoy the Holiday season and approach the New Year, Crane Data is ramping up preparations for its 2024 conference calendar. We just finished our "basic training" Money Fund University event last week, and we're getting ready for our next show, Bond Fund Symposium, which is March 25-26, 2024, in Philadelphia. But our focus will soon shift to our big show, Crane's Money Fund Symposium, which will take place June 12-14, 2024 at The Westin Convention Center, in Pittsburgh, Pa. 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 2024 conferences, below. (Thanks once more to those who supported our Money Fund University in Jersey City last week! Attendees and subscribers may access the recordings and conference materials at the bottom of our "Content" page or via our "Money Fund University 2023 Download Center.")

Our MF Symposium Agenda kicks off on Wednesday, June 12 with a "Keynote: The Tide Has Turned in the MMF Battle" featuring Chris Donahue of Federated Hermes. The rest of the Day 1 Agenda includes: "Alt-Cash: Ultra-Shorts, LGIPs, SMAs & ETFs" with Teresa Ho of J.P. Morgan Securities, Jeffrey Rowe of PFM Asset Management and Jeff Weaver of Allspring Global; "Treasury, Agency & RRP Issues & Issuance," with Tom Katzenbach of the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury, Dina Marchioni of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Dave Messerly of Federal Home Loan Banks; and, a "Major Money Fund Issues 2024" panel with moderator Peter Crane of Crane Data, Laurie Brignac of Invesco, Doris Grillo of J.P. Morgan Asset Mgmt and John Tobin of Dreyfus. The evening's reception is sponsored by Bank of America.

Day 2 of Money Fund Symposium 2024 begins with "Strategists Speak '24: Fed, Rates & Reforms," with Joseph Abate of Barclays and Mark Cabana of BofA Securities; followed by a "Senior Portfolio Manager Perspectives" panel with Deborah Cunningham of Federated Hermes, Dan LaRocco of Northern Trust A.M. and Nafis Smith of Vanguard. Next up is "Government Money Fund & Repo Issues," with Mike Bird of Allspring Global Investments and Geoff Gibbs of DWS. The morning concludes with a "Muni & Tax Exempt Money Fund Update," featuring Mary Jo Ochson of Federated Hermes, John Vetter of Fidelity Investments, Sean Saroya and David Elmquist of J.P. Morgan Securities.

The Afternoon of Day 2 (after a Dreyfus-sponsored lunch) features the segments: "Dealer's Choice: Supply, New Securities & CP" with Robe Crowe of Citi Global Markets, John Kodweis of J.P. Morgan and Stewart Cutler of Barclays; "Ratings Agency Outlook & Trend Review" with Marissa Zuccaro of S&P Global, Robert Callagy of Moody's Investors Service and Peter Gargiulo of Fitch Ratings; "Regulations: Money Fund Reforms Round III" with Brenden Carroll of Dechert LLP, Jon-Luc Dupuy of K&L Gates LLP and Jamie Gershkow of Stradley Ronon; and "Online MMF Trading Portals & MM Platforms" with Greg Fortuna of State Street Fund Connect and Tory Hazard of ICD (The Day 2 reception is sponsored by Barclays.)

The third day of the Symposium features the sessions: "The State of the Money Fund Industry" with Peter Crane of Crane Data; "Brokerage Sweep, Deposits & MF Competitors" with Michael Berkowitz of Citi Treasury & Trade Solutions; "European & Asian Money Fund Update" with Rob Sabatino of UBS Asset Mgmt; and, "Money Fund Wisdom Demo & Training" with Peter Crane.

Visit the Money Fund Symposium website at www.moneyfundsymposium.com for more details. Registration is $1,000, and discounted hotel reservations are available. We hope you'll join us in Pittsburgh this June! Note that some of our speakers have yet to confirm their participation, and the agenda is still in the process of being finalized, so watch for tweaks in coming weeks. E-mail us at info@cranedata.com to request the full brochure.

We're also making plans for our seventh annual ultra-short bond fund event, Bond Fund Symposium, which will take place March 25-26, 2024 at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. Crane's Bond Fund Symposium offers a concentrated and affordable educational experience, as well as an excellent networking venue, for bond fund and fixed-income professionals. Registrations are now being accepted ($1,000) and sponsorship opportunities are available. See the latest agenda here and details here.

Portfolio managers, analysts, investors, issuers, service providers, and anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of bond funds and fixed-income investing will benefit from our comprehensive program. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Loews Philadelphia. We'd like to thank our past sponsors and exhibitors -- Wells Fargo Securities, Fitch Ratings, Fidelity Investments, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Allspring Global, S&P Global Ratings, StoneX, Invesco, BofA Securities, Northern Trust, Bloomberg Intelligence, Goldman Sachs, Federated, GLMX, Payden & Rygel, PIMCO and Dechert -- for their support. (We'd love to get some new ones!) E-mail us for more details.

Finally, mark your calendars for our next European Money Fund Symposium, which is scheduled for Sept. 19-20, 2024, in London, and for our next Crane's Money Fund University, which is in Providence, Dec. 19-20, 2024. Let us know if you'd like more details on any of our events, and we hope to see you in Philadelphia in March, in Pittsburgh in June, in London in September or in Providence next December in 2024. Thanks for your patience and support in 2022, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!