Money Fund Intelligence XLS
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
May 07
The May issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent out to subscribers Tuesday morning, features the articles: "Goldman Latest Prime Inst Exit; CP/CDs Should Be Okay," which covers the continued exodus from Prime Institutional MMFs; "Corporate Treasurers Leaning Away from Prime, to SMAs," which quotes from recent TEXPO 2024 & NEAFP conferences; and, "NY Fed Says Money Funds in Europe Reflect Rates Fast Too," which reviews an article from The Federal Reserve Bank of NY. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Tuesday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 4/30/24 data. Our May Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Thursday, May 9, and our May Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Tuesday, May 14. (Note: Register soon for our Money Fund Symposium next month in Pittsburgh, June 12-14. We hope you'll join us!)
MFI's "Prime Exit" article says, "The hits keep coming to the Prime Institutional MMF sector, as Goldman Sachs becomes the latest fund firm to announce an exit. A filing for the $1.6 billion Goldman Sachs Financial Square Money Market Fund and the $2.9 billion Goldman Sachs Financial Square Prime Obligations Fund, including its Administration, Capital, Institutional, Preferred, Select, Service, and Drexel Hamilton Class shares, explains, 'At a meeting held on April 16-17, 2024, upon the recommendation of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, the Board ... approved a proposal to liquidate the Goldman Sachs Financial Square Money Market Fund and Goldman Sachs Financial Square Prime Obligations Fund.'"
It continues, "This brings the total of Prime Institutional money funds declaring either pending conversions to Government or pending liquidations to 5 funds to date, representing $229.3 billion in assets, or 34.9% of the $657.0 billion total in Prime Inst MMFs (assets as of 3/31/24)."
We write in our Treasurers Leaning Away article, "Over the past month, a number of money fund providers (as well as Crane Data) attended and spoke at a series of regional corporate treasury events, shedding light on the recent dramatic growth of money funds and the current shifts and changes in money fund lineups. We attended TEXPO 2024, the Texas treasury event in Houston (4/14-16) and New England AFP in Boston (4/25-26), and sat through almost a dozen sessions involving money funds, liquidity and short-term investing. We quote from some of the sessions and highlights below."
It tells us, "TEXPO includes a presentation titled, 'Regulatory, Rate and Regime Changes: A Perfect Storm for Liquidity Investors?' with Jeff Jones of Twisted X, Wes Rager of Invesco, and Brittany O'Shea of Texas Capital. Rager explains, 'So, for us we’re just very defensive. We're trying to stay nimble. Typically in the rate environment that we're in, where we've seen what we think is the last rate hike, you want to start extending your portfolio. But if you extend to soon, you're locking in lower rates for a longer period of time."
Our "NY Fed" piece says, "The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Liberty Street Economics featured the article, 'Monetary Policy and Money Market Funds in Europe.' It states, 'As shown in a past [post], the yields of money market fund (MMF) shares respond to changes in monetary policy rates much more than the rates of bank deposits; in other words, the MMF beta is much higher than the deposit beta. Consistent with this, the size of the U.S. MMF industry fluctuates over the interest rate cycle, expanding during times of monetary policy tightening. In this post, we show that the relationship between the policy rates of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the size of European MMFs investing in euro-denominated securities is also positive -- as long as policy rates are positive; after the ECB introduced negative policy rates in 2015, that relationship broke down, as MMFs received large inflows during this period.'"
It continues, "The piece explains, 'Similar to their U.S. counterparts, European MMFs can be divided into government funds ... and prime funds based on their portfolio holdings <b:>`_.... European MMFs are regulated under Regulation (EU) 2017/1131 of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union (EU), which was adopted in 2017 in response to the 2008 run experienced by MMFs.'"
MFI also includes the News brief, "MMF Assets Fall on Tax Payments." It states, "Money fund assets fell by $17.6 billion to $6.387 trillion in April (after falling $68.5B in March). Outflows from the long Good Friday weekend last month-end and April 15 tax payments have temporarily paused MMFs record run. Over 12 months, money funds have risen by $694.5 billion, or 12.2%, with Taxable Retail MMFs jumping $490.2 billion (26.4%) and Taxable Inst MMFs rising by $186.1 billion (5.0%)."
Another News brief, "The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal Writes, 'Companies Belly Up to Cash Buffet, in Five Charts.' The article tells us, 'Companies are socking away cash at the fastest rate since the onset of the pandemic. Four years ago, companies boosted their cash holdings to weather economic uncertainty stemming from virus-related lockdowns. Now, with interest rates hovering at two-decade highs, they are allocating more of their portfolios to high-yielding cash ... investments, getting a welcome boost from yields that top 5% on money-market funds.'"
A third News brief, "Barron's Says, 'Money-Market Funds Look Like a Tempting Place for Your Cash.' They write, 'Most of the time, money-market mutual funds are about as exciting as watching paint dry. That's what they're designed to be: boring and reliable. But these days, money funds have gotten interesting. And tempting. Maybe overly tempting.'"
A sidebar, "Payden Limited Maturity 30," says, "A release, 'Payden & Rygel Celebrates 30 Years of the Limited Maturity Fund (PYLMX) Amidst Four Decades of Investment Excellence' states, 'Payden & Rygel is proud to announce the 30-year anniversary of its Limited Maturity Fund (PYLMX).... Payden & Rygel has cemented its reputation as a leader in short-duration strategies.... The short duration strategy team has worked together for 15 years and currently oversees $70 billion in assets.'"
Our May MFI XLS, with April 30 data, shows total assets decreased $17.6 billion to $6.387 trillion, after decreasing $66.7 billion in March, increasing $50.0 billion in February, $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 and $152.7 billion in May."
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was unchanged at 5.03%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was down 1 bp to 5.13% in April. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 5.40% and 5.40%, respectively. Charged Expenses averaged 0.37% and 0.26% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses on Wednesday once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 4/30/24.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 35 days (down 2 bps from previous month) and the Crane 100 WAM was down 3 bps at 35 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
Apr 05
The April issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence newsletter, which was sent out to subscribers Friday morning, features the articles: "Pending Reforms Trigger Prime Shift: Federated, Vanguard Go," which covers the budding exodus from Prime Institutional MMFs; "Bond Fund Symposium '24: Ultra-Shorts Look for Bounce," which quotes from our recent ultra-short bond fund conference; and, "Worldwide MF Assets Break $10 Trillion in '23; US Leads," which reviews ICI's latest global money fund statistics. We also sent out our MFI XLS spreadsheet Friday a.m., and we've updated our Money Fund Wisdom database with 3/31/24 data. Our April Money Fund Portfolio Holdings are scheduled to ship on Tuesday, April 9, and our April Bond Fund Intelligence is scheduled to go out on Friday, April 12.
MFI's "Prime Shift" article says, "Federated Money Market Trust is the first Prime Institutional MMF to announce its liquidation ahead of the latest round of SEC MMF Reforms. Vanguard and American Funds filed to convert two large internal money funds as well, and we'll no doubt see more moves over the next several months. The SEC's asset totals ... show Prime MMFs representing $1.4 trillion (as of 2/29/24), or 21.5%, of the $6.5 trillion in total MMFs, with Inst Public totaling $342 billion, Inst Nonpublic totaling $332 billion and Prime Retail totaling $733 billion."
It continues, “A Prospectus Supplement filing for the $1.2 billion Federated Hermes Money Market Obligations Trust, including the Inst (MMPXX), Capital (MMLXX) and Eagle Shares (MMMXX), tells us, 'On Feb. 15, 2024, the Board of Trustees of Federated Hermes Money Market Obligations Trust approved a Plan of Liquidation for the Federated Hermes Institutional Money Market Management pursuant to which the Fund will be liquidated on or about July 12, 2024.... In approving the Liquidation, the Board determined the Liquidation is in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders. Accordingly, the Fund's investment adviser will take all action necessary to liquidate, dissolve, and wind up the affairs of the Fund.'"
We write in our Bond Fund article, "We recently hosted our latest Crane's Bond Fund Symposium in Philadelphia. Below, we quote from the 'Senior Portfolio Manager Perspectives,' which featured J.P. Morgan Asset Management's Dave Martucci, UBS A.M.'s Dave Rothweiler and PIMCO's Jerome Schneider. (Thanks again to those who supported BFS. Crane Data subscribers may access the recordings and conference materials at the bottom of our 'Content' page or via our 'Bond Fund Symposium 2024 Download Center.')"
It tells us, "Rothweiler comments, 'Looking back to 2022-2023, you had competition from the money funds with higher yields [and] stable NAVs, ... and people pushing to go longer duration. So you were getting hit from both ends.... The Street just doesn't have the balance sheet they used to have. [When] everyone runs out the door at the same time, liquidity is of the utmost importance.'"
Our "Worldwide" piece states, "The Investment Company Institute published, 'Worldwide Regulated Open-Fund Assets and Flows, Fourth Quarter 2023,' recently, which shows that money fund assets globally jumped by $497.0 billion, or 5.1%, in Q4'23 to $10.441 trillion. The increases were led by a sharp jump in money funds in U.S., while Ireland, Luxembourg, France and China also rose. Meanwhile, money funds in Argentina and Belgium were lower. MMF assets worldwide increased by $1.585 trillion, or 19.1%, in the 12 months through 12/31/23, and money funds in the U.S. now represent 56.7% of worldwide assets."
It continues, "ICI's release says, 'Worldwide regulated open-end fund assets increased 8.6% to $68.85 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, excluding funds of funds.... [ICI] compiles worldwide regulated open-end fund statistics on behalf of the International Investment Funds Association (IIFA).... The collection for the fourth quarter of 2023 contains statistics from 45 jurisdictions.'"
MFI also includes the News brief, "MMF Assets Dip in March, Rebound to Record $6.538 Trillion on April 2." It states, "Money fund assets fell by $66.7 billion to $6.407 trillion in March, but they've soared by $140.3 billion in the first 2 days of April. Over the past 12 months, money funds have risen by $778 billion, or 13.8%, with Retail MMFs jumping $531.5 billion (29.2%) and Inst MMFs rising by $236.7 billion (6.4%)."
Another News brief, "BlackRock Launches Tokenized MF," comments, "A release entitled, 'BlackRock Launches Its First Tokenized Fund, BUIDL, on the Ethereum Network,' says, 'BlackRock unveil[ed] its first tokenized fund issued on a public blockchain, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL). BUIDL will provide qualified investors with the opportunity to earn U.S. dollar yields by subscribing to the Fund through Securitize Markets, LLC.'"
A third News brief, "ICI: MMF Expense Ratios 0.22% in '23," says, "The Investment Company Institute published, 'Trends in the Expenses and Fees of Funds, 2023,' which tells us, 'Average expense ratios of hybrid and bond mutual funds, as well as money market funds, have ... declined meaningfully since 1996.' A table shows expense ratios by type from 1996 to 2023 and shows bonds fund averages falling from 0.84% to 0.37% over this period and money fund ratios falling from 0.52% to 0.22%. (Note: Crane Data shows the average expense ratio for money market mutual funds at 0.26% as of 2/29/24 as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index.)"
A sidebar, "WSJ on Wall of Cash Bulls," says, "The Wall Street Journal writes, 'Sorry Stock Bulls, the 'Wall of Cash' Isn't All Headed Your Way.' They explain, 'Trillions of dollars are seemingly available to move out of cash funds and be put to work in the stock market. That possibility has had stock-market bulls salivating, but they are probably in for disappointment. Despite the expectation that the Federal Reserve's next move is to cut rates, money-market-fund assets have continued to grow at a fast pace. They are now around $6.5 trillion, according to industry tracker Crane Data. While the S&P 500 is up 8% year to date, total money funds added more than $150 billion in assets through the first two months of 2024, or about $50 billion more than they did in the same period last year, according to Crane.'"
Our April MFI XLS, with March 31 data, shows total assets decreased $66.7 billion to $6.407 trillion, after increasing $50.0 billion in February, $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 and $56.5 billion in April."
Our broad Crane Money Fund Average 7-Day Yield was down 1 bp to 5.03%, and our Crane 100 Money Fund Index (the 100 largest taxable funds) was down 1 bp to 5.14% in March. On a Gross Yield Basis (7-Day) (before expenses are taken out), the Crane MFA and the Crane 100 averaged 5.40% and 5.41%, respectively. Charged Expenses averaged 0.37% and 0.26% for the Crane MFA and the Crane 100. (We'll revise expenses on Monday once we upload the SEC's Form N-MFP data for 3/31/24.) The average WAM (weighted average maturity) for the Crane MFA was 37 days (down 1 bp from previous month) and the Crane 100 WAM was down 2 bps at 38 days. (See our Crane Index or craneindexes.xlsx history file for more on our averages.)
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.)