Money Market News
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 lower in the latest reported quarter (Q1'24) at $331 billion (down from $352 billion in Q4'23 but up from $313 billion in Q1'23). We also again briefly review the part of the SEC's MMF Reforms which addresses "Amendments to Form PF Reporting Requirements for Large Liquidity Fund Advisers" and which went into effect over the summer, below. (Note: Register ASAP for our upcoming Money Fund University, which will be held Dec. 19-20, 2024 in Providence, R.I. See you in Providence in 4 weeks!)
Mutual fund news source ignites writes, "Money Funds Hit $7T and Are Likely to Stay There in 2025." The piece states, "Money market fund assets hit a record high last week. Even as interest rates continue to fall, however, money funds still have a 'significant yield advantage' over bank deposits, buoying their assets, one analyst said. Money market funds are unlikely to see outflows in 2025, despite continued rate cuts, one analyst said. The funds reached $7 trillion in combined assets Wednesday before dipping below that milestone on Thursday, noted Peter Crane, president of Crane Data. November and December are typically the strongest months of the year for money market fund inflows, and a looming 25-basis-point rate cut by the Federal Open Market Committee in December should provide a short-term tailwind for the funds, he said."
Money fund yields declined by 9 basis points to 4.48% on average during the week ended Friday, Nov. 15 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after falling 7 bps the week prior. Yields are now reflecting the majority of the Federal Reserve's 25 basis point cut on November 7, but they should continue inching lower this week and next. They've declined by 58 bps since the Fed cut its Fed funds target rate by 50 bps percent on Sept. 18 and they've declined by 15 bps since the Fed cut rates by 1/4 point on 11/7. Yields were 4.65% on average on 10/31, 4.75% on 9/30, 5.10% on 8/31, 5.13% on 7/31 and 6/28, 5.14% on 5/31, 5.13% on 4/30, 5.14% on 3/31 and 2/29/24, 5.17% on 1/31/24, and 5.20% on 12/31/23. (Note: Register soon for our "basic training" event, Money Fund University, which takes place Dec. 19-20 in Providence, RI.)
Crane Data's latest Money Fund Intelligence International shows that assets in European or "offshore" money market mutual funds moved higher again over the past 30 days to a record $1.406 trillion, while yields moved lower. Assets for USD and EUR rose over the past month while GBP MMFs fell. Like U.S. money fund assets, European MMFs have repeatedly hit record highs in 2023 and 2024. These U.S.-style money funds, domiciled in Ireland or Luxembourg and denominated in US Dollars, Pound Sterling and Euros, increased by $41.1 billion over the 30 days through 11/14. The totals are up $208.6 billion (17.4%) year-to-date for 2024, they were up $166.9 billion (16.2%) for the year 2023. (Note that currency moves in the U.S. dollar cause Euro and Sterling totals to shift when they're translated back into totals in U.S. dollars. See our latest MFI International for more on the "offshore" money fund marketplace. These funds are only available to qualified, non-U.S. investors and are almost entirely institutional.)
The November issue of our Bond Fund Intelligence, which was sent to subscribers Friday morning, features the stories, "Bond Funds Hit by Election Inflation Fears, But Inflows," which reviews the recent jump in bond yields, and "ETF Trends: MM Substitutes, Ultra-Shorts; Steepener," which covers the expected shift into ultra-shorts. BFI also recaps the latest Bond Fund News and includes our Crane BFI Indexes, which show that bond fund returns fell in October while yields were higher. We excerpt from the new issue below. (Contact us if you'd like to see our latest Bond Fund Intelligence and BFI XLS spreadsheet, or our Bond Fund Portfolio Holdings data.) (Note: See also Bloomberg's "A $7 Trillion and Growing Cash Pile Defies Wall Street Skeptics.")
Money market mutual fund assets broke the $7.0 trillion barrier for the first time ever on Wednesday, Nov. 13, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. Assets have jumped following the Federal Reserve's 25 basis point rate cut last Thursday (11/7), increasing by $91.4 billion in the week through Wednesday to a record $7.001 trillion. Money fund assets have increased by $147.3 billion in November month-to-date through 11/13, and they have increased by $709.4 billion (11.3%) year-to-date in 2024. (Note: Register soon for our "basic training" event, Money Fund University, which takes place Dec. 19-20 in Providence, RI, and please join us there for Crane Data's Holiday, and now $7 Trillion, Party!)
Crane Data's November Money Fund Portfolio Holdings, with data as of Oct. 31, 2024, show that Treasuries jumped sharply while Repo holdings dropped last month. Money market securities held by Taxable U.S. money funds (tracked by Crane Data) increased by $82.8 billion to $6.810 trillion in October, after increasing $233.8 billion in September, $57.2 billion in August and $90.4 billion in July. Taxable holdings decreasing by $0.4 billion in June, increased $105.6 billion in May, but decreased $61.4 billion in April. Treasuries, now the largest segment, increased $236.2 billion in October after increasing $92.0 billion in September, but decreasing $40.2 billion in August and $21.5 billion in July. Repo decreased by $242.8 billion, moving it down to the No. 2 spot for largest portfolio segment. Agencies were the third largest segment, 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, or contact us to request our latest Portfolio Holdings reports.) (Note: Register soon for our "basic training" event, Money Fund University, which takes place Dec. 19-20 in Providence, R.I.)
Crane Data's latest monthly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics will be sent out Tuesday, and we'll be writing our regular monthly update on the new October 31 data for Wednesday's News. But we also already uploaded a separate and broader Portfolio Holdings data set based on the SEC's Form N-MFP filings on Friday. (We continue to merge the two series, and the N-MFP version is now available via our Portfolio Holdings file listings to Money Fund Wisdom subscribers.) Our new N-MFP summary, with data as of October 31, includes holdings information from 984 money funds (down 27 from last month), representing assets of $6.925 trillion (up from $6.872 trillion). Prime MMFs rose to $1.158 trillion (up from $1.139 trillion), or 16.7% of the total. We review the new N-MFP data, and we also look at our revised MMF expense data, which shows charged expenses were mostly flat and money fund revenues rose to $18.5 billion (annualized) in October. (Note: We're still adjusting to the SEC's new Form N-MFP format, so there continue to be some distortions in our data. Let us know if you see any issues or questions!)
Crane Data's latest monthly Money Fund Market Share rankings show assets increasing among most of the largest U.S. money fund complexes in October, after rising in September, August, July, June and May. Assets fell in March and April. Money market fund assets rose by $88.9 billion, or 1.3%, last month to a record $6.863 trillion. Total MMF assets have increased by $349.5 billion, or 5.4%, over the past 3 months, and they've increased by $802.4 billion, or 13.2%, over the past 12 months. The largest increases among the 25 largest managers last month were seen by Goldman Sachs, JPM, Schwab, Morgan Stanley and First American, which grew assets by $21.6 billion, $14.1B, $13.1B, $10.0B and $9.2B, respectively. Declines in October were seen by American Funds, Vanguard, RBC, Fidelity and Columbia, which decreased by $11.3 billion, $3.8B, $2.1B, $1.3B and $807M, 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, and look at money fund yields, which were lower in October.
The November issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent to subscribers Thursday morning, features the articles: "Tokenized Money Funds Gain Momentum; Issues Remain," which reviews the latest releases and news on MMFs on the blockchain; "Federated Hermes, Schwab Earnings Calls Highlight MMFs," which quotes from recent earnings call MMF comments; and, "BNY, UBS Latest to Liquidate Municipal Money Funds," which recaps the thinning among Tax-Exempt Money Funds. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Thursday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 10/31/24 data. Our Nov. Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Tuesday, November 12, and our Nov. Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Friday, November 15 (a day late due to the Veterans Day Holiday). (Note: Please join us for our "basic training" event, Money Fund University, which takes place Dec. 19-20 in Providence, R.I.)
Crane Data published its latest Weekly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings statistics Tuesday, which track a shifting subset of our monthly Portfolio Holdings collection. The most recent cut (with data as of Nov. 1) includes Holdings information from 47 money funds (down 26 from a week ago), or $2.801 trillion (down from $3.786 trillion) of the $6.870 trillion in total money fund assets (or 40.8%) tracked by Crane Data. (Our Weekly MFPH are e-mail only and aren't available on the website. See our latest Monthly Money Fund Portfolio Holdings here and our Oct. 10 News, "October Money Fund Portfolio Holdings: Repo Surges, Reclaims Top Spot.")
Money fund yields declined by 2 basis points to 4.64% on average during the week ended Friday, Nov. 1 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after inching down 2 bps the week prior. They've declined by 42 bps since the Fed cut its Fed funds target rate by 50 bps percent on Sept. 18. Yields were 4.65% on 10/31, 4.75% on 9/30, 5.10% on 8/31, 5.13% on 7/31 and 6/28, 5.14% on 5/31, 5.13% on 4/30, 5.14% on 3/31 and 2/29/24, 5.17% on 1/31/24, and 5.20% on 12/31/23. Yields should remain flat to slightly lower until Friday, when they should decline sharply again if, as expected, the Fed's cuts rates by 1/4 percent at its Nov. 7 meeting. (Note: Register soon for our "basic training" conference, Money Fund University, which will take place Dec. 19-20 in Providence, R.I.)
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