US money market funds attracted $47.7 billion in the week ending July 1,
pushing total assets to a record high of $7.95 trillion, according to data released Thursday by the Investment Company Institute (ICI).
The inflow was the largest weekly increase since the week ending June 3. Total net assets rose from $7.9 trillion in the previous week, marking the seventh increase in the past nine weeks.
Assets of government funds, which invest primarily in Treasury bills, repurchase agreements, and government agency debt, rose to $6.56 trillion, up $34.1 billion. Assets of prime funds, which invest in commercial paper and other riskier instruments, increased to $1.24 trillion, adding $11.4 billion.
ICI data does not include internally held company money funds. Crane Data LLC, which tracks the broader money market, reported that total assets as of June 26 were $8.326 trillion, up $14 billion from the previous week.
Money market funds are attracting increasing investor interest after Federal Reserve officials signaled the possibility of an interest rate hike in the coming months. According to interest rate swap data, after the release of the labor market report on Thursday, traders were pricing the likelihood of a rate hike at the July meeting at about 20%, up from 33% before the release. Traders were pricing in a 31 basis point Fed rate hike by December, implying expectations of more than one quarter-percentage-point hike.
Corporate treasurers often shift funds from direct securities to cash instruments to generate yield, a trend that was expected to continue until geopolitical tensions in the Middle East began to impact inflation expectations.