Money-market mutual fund assets shrink

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Assets of the nation's retail money-market mutual funds fell by $3.53 billion in the latest week to $936.31 billion, the Investment Company Institute said Thursday.

Assets of taxable money-market funds in the retail category fell by $3.91 billion to $743.86 billion for the week ended Wednesday, the Washington-based mutual fund trade group said. Tax-exempt fund assets rose by $377.8 million to $192.45 billion.

Assets of institutional money-market funds fell by $2.08 billion to $1.182 trillion for the same period. Among institutional funds, taxable money-market fund assets fell by $2.18 billion to $1.083 trillion; assets of tax-exempt funds rose by $101.3 million to $99.21 billion.

Total money-market assets stood at $2.119 trillion for the week. Assets for the previous week were revised to $2.124 trillion to reflect reporting errors and a change in the number of funds report.

The seven-day average yield on money-market mutual funds rose in the week ended Tuesday to 0.53 percent from 0.52 percent the previous week, said Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet Inc. in Westboro, Mass. The 30-day average yield rose to 0.52 percent from 0.51 percent, according to Money Fund Report.

The seven-day compounded yield rose to 0.53 percent from 0.52 percent the previous week, and the 30-day compounded yield rose to 0.52 percent from 0.51 percent, Money Fund Report said.

The online service Bankrate .com said its survey of lending institutions showed the annual percentage yield available on money-market accounts held at 0.50 percent as of Wednesday from a week earlier.