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The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets jumping $47.7 billion to a record $7.948 trillion, after falling $18.9 billion the previous week. MMF assets are up by $870 billion, or 12.3%, over the past 52 weeks (through 7/1/26), with Institutional MMFs up $691 billion, or 16.6% and Retail MMFs up $179 billion, or 6.1%. Year-to-date in 2026, MMF assets are up by $215 billion, or 2.8%, with Institutional MMFs up $205 billion, or 4.4% and Retail MMFs up $10 billion, or 0.3%. ICI's weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $47.71 billion to $7.95 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, July 1, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $34.11 billion and prime funds increased by $11.36 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $2.24 billion.” ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs increasing $44.1 billion and Retail MMFs increasing $3.6 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $6.556 trillion (82.5% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.241 trillion (15.6%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $150.9 billion (1.9%). It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds increased by $3.60 billion to $3.09 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets increased by $1.12 billion to $1.96 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $1.25 billion to $986.34 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $1.23 billion to $136.88 billion." Retail assets account for 38.8% of the total, and Government Retail assets make up 63.6% of all Retail MMFs. They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $44.11 billion to $4.86 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $32.99 billion to $4.59 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $10.11 billion to $254.86 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $1.01 billion to $13.99 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 61.2% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 94.5% of all institutional MMF totals. According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have increased by $35.0 billion to a record high $8.385 trillion month-to-date in July (as of 7/1). Assets increased $58.6 billion in June, $208.6 billion in May, decreased by $108.8 billion in April, $49.3 billion in March, increased $99.5 billion in February, $32.9 billion in January, $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose $63.7 billion last July. Note that `ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're almost $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.

Marty Margolis's latest Public Funds Investment Institute posting is titled, "Halftime: What's in Store for the Balance of 2026?" It explains, "Last week's Crane Money Fund Symposium brought together portfolio managers who invest assets in the $8 trillion money market fund industry along with those who invest portfolios for the major banks. It's a small number of people whose views on the economy and investment markets are incredibly important in setting the course for short-term interest rates. The symposium came on the heels of the first Federal Open Market Committee meeting chaired by Kevin Warsh which seemed to mark the beginning of a new direction for monetary policy. The timing and the audience provided an opportunity to consider the path of the short-term fixed income market for the balance of 2026." It summarizes, "With that in mind here are key themes that came out of the meeting: The Fed Will Raise Rates. The consensus of portfolio managers seemed to be for one or two 25 basis point increases in the Federal Reserve's target rate (currently 3.50%-3.75%) over the balance of 2026. Bank and broker economists at the symposium, many of whom are regularly on Bloomberg, CNBC and on investor roadshows had a wider dispersion of views, from forecasts of unchanged rates to those who foresee three increases. Portfolio managers leaned toward the mild side. One or two increases would be a big change from the outlook early in 2026, when federal funds futures contracts predicted an overnight rate of 3% or less by year-end, but persistent inflation and a slow but positive expansion of economic activity have led to the adjustment." The piece also says, "A Surge in Treasury Bill Supply Will Dominate the Second Half of 2026," stating, "Treasury is expected to issue $800 billion(!) of bills over the next six months to fund the federal deficit. It will increase outstanding bill supply by about 12%. This may seem like a striking figure, but it's in line with issuance last year. If you are a buyer/investor more supply is a positive as it should put modest upward pressure on yields." Margolis updste adds, "Market participants expect that money funds will continue to absorb much of the supply with their assets extending the pace of recent growth. Bill issuance over the past several years has been matched by growth in money fund assets." Finally, the article tells us, "The Prospect of More Bills Could Put Modest Upward Pressure on Money Market Yields." It says, "Bank deposit rates and commercial paper rates could rise to add spread to comparable bill rates. Financial institutions will want to assure funding in the face of the bill onslaught and also position for the end of the year when funding normally gets more challenging. Some evidence of spread widening already has shown up in levels posted by banks for maturities of six months or more, and this spread widening could continue in coming weeks.... Market participants are buzzing about stable coins, tokenized money fund shares and money fund ETFs but these innovations remain on the fringe. Either the technologies are still in formation, or the business case is lacking, and they are not seen as impacting the markets, at least in the short run."

A posting on Yahoo Finance, "Invesco Targets Stablecoin Reserves With New Tokenized Money Market Fund," explains, "Invesco ($IVZ) is moving deeper into the stablecoin reserve market with a new tokenized money market fund aimed at issuers looking for compliant, yield-bearing cash management. The $2.45 trillion asset manager filed an amended registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 24 to add the Invesco Stablecoin Reserves Onchain Fund to its Short-Term Investments Trust. The fund does not yet have a ticker and is expected to become effective about 60 days after the filing, unless regulators intervene." The piece says, "Superstate's role gives the product its onchain layer. The filing describes a blockchain-integrated recordkeeping system that combines off-chain book-entry records with digital representations of fund shares on designated public blockchains. Wallets must be registered and verified, keeping the product closer to permissioned institutional infrastructure than open crypto trading." The story adds, "The filing adds Invesco to a growing group of Wall Street firms positioning money market funds as stablecoin reserve infrastructure. The category has become more attractive as stablecoin legislation gives issuers a clearer map for eligible reserves, while tokenized fund platforms try to make those assets usable inside faster settlement and collateral workflows. Invesco already had a link to the sector after taking over day-to-day portfolio management of Superstate's USTB tokenized Treasury fund earlier this year." See the SEC filing for Invesco Stablecoin Reserves Onchain Fund here. For more on Stablecoin Reserve funds, see these Crane Data News stories: "Fidelity Reserves Digital Fund Goes Live" (6/23/26), "State Street Stablecoin Reserves Goes Live" (6/17/26), "Federated MMR Digital Treasury Fund" (6/10/26), "BNY Files for Dreyfus On-​Chain Liquidity Fund for Stablecoin Reserves" (5/22/26), "Fidelity Files for Reserves Digital Fund, 5th Stablecoin Reserve MMF" (3/23/26), "Dec. MFI: MMFs Hit $8.0T, Top 10; JPM '26 Outlook; Stablecoin Reserves" (12/5/25), "State Street Files for Stablecoin Reserves MMF; BNY's Stephanie Pierce" (11/19/25), "BNY Stablecoin Reserves Goes Live; ICI: Assets Eke Out Record $7.5T" (11/14/25),"BNY's Vince on Q3 Call: Money Market Evolution, Dreyfus, Stablecoins" (10/22/25), "BlackRock Breaks $1 Trillion in Money Funds; Offers Stablecoin Reserve" (10/17/25), "Sept. MFI: Assets Break $7.6T; Stablecoin Reserves; JPM on Offshore MFs" (9/8/25), "BNY Dreyfus to Launch Stablecoin Reserves Fund; Joins Goldman, Circle" (8/20) and "Goldman Files to Launch Stablecoin Reserves Fund; Circle Q2 Earnings" (8/13/25).

Investment News writes, "Morgan Stanley boosts returns on client cash, analyst says." The article tells us, "Morgan Stanley last week increased yields on cash held in advisory accounts, according to a report by an industry analyst, two-and-a-half years after large firms began facing questions on whether they were short-changing clients on interest rates." They quote Steven Chubak, managing director of Wolfe Research, "Morgan Stanley raised deposit rates on investment advisory accounts to 3.6%, from 2.2% previously." The piece continues, "A spokesperson for Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Since 2023, large firms have been facing penalties and questions from regulators over interest rates for clients' cash accounts." Investment News explains, "Following news of Morgan Stanley's bump in interest rates to clients' cash holdings, Friday saw a selloff more broadly in wealth management and brokerage stocks, Chubak noted. Large wealth management firms see revenues and profits from cash held in clients accounts. A higher payout to clients would mean less profits from cash sweep accounts." The piece adds, "The share price of Morgan Stanley declined 4% to $212.03, while LPL Financial Holdings Inc. and Stifel Financial Corp. dropped 3.1%, respectively, to $268.75 per share and $69.27 per share. The Securities and Exchange Commission last year ended its investigation into Morgan Stanley's advisory cash sweep program without pursuing any enforcement action. The closure of the probe brought to an end more than a year of scrutiny by the SEC's enforcement division, which since April 2024 had sought information regarding how uninvested client cash was swept into affiliated bank deposit accounts." (Note: According to our latest Brokerage Sweep Intelligence, Morgan Stanley is only paying the 3.6% rate on balances over $250K.)

An Editor's Note explains, "New York Fed President John C. Williams prepared the following remarks for delivery on Thursday, June 25 at the Crane's Money Fund Symposium. President Williams was not able to participate in the event, and the speech was not delivered publicly. We have published the text of his remarks here at the originally scheduled time." The text of the speech, "The Strategy and the Goals," states, "It's an exciting time here in New Jersey. Just 10 miles away, more than 80,000 soccer fans are packed into MetLife Stadium for the World Cup. In fact, the match is set to start in about 20 minutes -- just as Pete will be grilling me about the U.S. economy and monetary policy. I can assure you that our conversation will be even more thrilling than the game. The seats are cheaper, too. Today I'm going to talk about how the Federal Reserve is working to achieve its dual mandate goals of maximum employment and price stability. I'll also spend some time talking about how the Fed implements monetary policy." Williams says, "Given the elevated level of inflation, it is imperative that we restore it to our 2 percent longer-run goal on a sustained basis. The current stance of monetary policy is well positioned to do that. Accordingly, at its meeting last week, the FOMC decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3-1/2 to 3-3/4 percent in support of the Fed's dual mandate." He later explains, "These administered rates help establish a floor and a ceiling for the federal funds rate. One, the interest rate on reserve balances, is the tool that helps set the floor, and another, the overnight reverse repo -- or ON RRP -- is the tool that reinforces it. Usage of the ON RRP adjusts automatically to market conditions, rising and falling with supply and demand, which is particularly important in a dynamic market. It has proven to be a very effective and flexible tool to support interest rate control to the downside." Williams adds, "The Fed's standing repo operations -- or SRPs -- help establish a ceiling for the federal funds rate. The SRP rate is set at the top of the FOMC's target range for the federal funds rate and provides interest rate control to the upside. This combination of an ample supply of reserves and an SRP rate at the top of the target range reduces the day-to-day reliance on these operations -- except during periods of significant upward pressure on rates that result from strong liquidity demand or market stress. By ensuring that adequate liquidity will be available in a wide variety of circumstances, SRPs are a critical tool used to cap temporary upward pressure on rates. It assures markets of effective interest rate control and smooth market functioning." See also from our recent Money Fund Symposium, "The Fed's Balance Sheet and Desk Money Market Operations from Dina Marchioni, Director of Money Markets at the New York Fed.

The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets falling $18.9 billion to $7.900 trillion, after jumping $39.7 billion to a record $7.919 trillion the previous week. MMF assets are up by $877 billion, or 12.5%, over the past 52 weeks (through 6/24/26), with Institutional MMFs up $690 billion, or 16.7% and Retail MMFs up $187 billion, or 6.5%. Year-to-date in 2026, MMF assets are up by $167 billion, or 2.2%, with Institutional MMFs up $161 billion, or 3.4% and Retail MMFs up $6 billion, or 0.2%. ICI's weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets decreased by $18.91 billion to $7.90 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, June 24, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds decreased by $18.15 billion and prime funds decreased by $1.06 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $297 million." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs decreasing $17.0 billion and Retail MMFs decreasing $1.9 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $6.522 trillion (82.6% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.230 trillion (15.6%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $148.6 billion (1.9%). It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $1.90 billion to $3.08 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $1.81 billion to $1.96 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $1.42 billion to $985.10 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $1.33 billion to $135.65 billion." Retail assets account for 39.0% of the total, and Government Retail assets make up 63.7% of all Retail MMFs. They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $17.01 billion to $4.82 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $16.35 billion to $4.56 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $366 million to $244.74 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets decreased by $1.03 billion to $12.98 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 61.0% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 94.6% of all institutional MMF totals. According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have increased by $44.4 billion to $8.336 trillion month-to-date in June (as of 6/24). Assets hit a record high on June 16 of $8.370 trillion. Assets increased $208.6 billion in May, decreased by $108.8 billion in April, $49.3 billion in March, increased $99.5 billion in February, $32.9 billion in January, $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose $63.7 billion in July and $6.7 billion last June. Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're almost $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.

Another press release, "Federated Hermes launches active, short-duration fixed-income ETF," states, "Federated Hermes, Inc. (FHI) ... introduced Federated Hermes Ultrashort Bond ETF (FUSD), designed for investors seeking higher yields in an uncertain interest rate environment. Federated Hermes Ultrashort Bond ETF pursues its objective of providing total return consistent with current income by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of investment-grade debt securities. The ETF seeks to offer a competitive and attractive yield while minimizing interest rate risk by limiting its effective duration to one year or less." It explains, "The portfolio management team -- led by Nicholas Tripodes, CFA, senior portfolio manager and head of the Low Duration Multisector Group; Daniel Mastalski, CFA, portfolio manager; and Bradley Payne, portfolio manager -- actively adjusts positioning as market conditions evolve, drawing on the collective insights of Federated Hermes' fixed income leadership and sector specialists. Portfolio construction is guided by the firm's established fixed-income framework, which emphasizes sector allocation, security selection and interest-rate positioning, seeking diversified sources of alpha rather than reliance on any single market factor. Federated Hermes manages $42.9 billion in short-duration fixed-income assets as of March 31, 2026." Paul A. Uhlman, president and CEO of the Federated Advisory Companies, comments, "We offer a comprehensive suite of investment solutions across the full investment horizon to help meet the evolving needs of our clients. Through active allocation across high‑quality, short‑term fixed-income sectors, Federated Hermes Ultrashort Bond ETF offers a disciplined step beyond traditional cash alternatives while avoiding long‑duration risk." ETF business director at Federated Hermes Brandon Clark adds, "With more than 55 years of fixed-income investing experience, Federated Hermes is known for disciplined credit research, management stability and a repeatable investment process. Federated Hermes Ultrashort Bond ETF reflects that long history of short-duration fixed-income strategies with the outperformance potential, tactical flexibility, tax efficiency, transparency, liquidity and ease of use of active ETFs."

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 June 19) includes Holdings information from 58 money funds (up 2 from a week ago), or $4.103 trillion (up from $3.821 trillion) of the $8.312 trillion in total money fund assets (or 49.4%) tracked by Crane Data. (Note: 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 June 10 News, "June MF Portfolio Holdings: Assets Jump; Treasuries Surge, Repo Up.") Our latest Weekly MFPH Composition summary shows Government assets dominating the holdings list with Treasuries totaling $1.844 trillion (up from $1.745 trillion a week ago), or 45.0%; Repurchase Agreements (Repo) totaling $1.479 trillion (up from $1.346 trillion a week ago), or 36.1%, and Government Agency securities totaling $444.9 billion (up from $409.5 billion a week ago), or 10.8%. Commercial Paper (CP) totaled $150.0 billion (up from $141.2 billion a week ago), or 3.7%. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) totaled $79.9 billion (up from $77.2 billion a week ago), or 1.9%. The Other category accounted for $61.8 billion or 1.5%, while VRDNs accounted for $42.4 billion or 1.0%. The Ten Largest Issuers in our Weekly Holdings product include: the US Treasury with $1.844 trillion, Fixed Income Clearing Corp with $497.7B, the Federal Home Loan Bank with $278.7B, JP Morgan with $156.3B, Citi with $103.7B, Wells Fargo with $97.9B, RBC with $94.1B, BNP Paribas with $89.7B, Federal Farm Credit Bank with $88.2B and Credit Agricole with $53.3B. The Ten Largest Funds tracked in our latest Weekly include: JPMorgan 100% US Trs MM ($333.3B), JPMorgan US Govt MM ($332.7B), Goldman Sachs FS Govt ($279.3B), Fidelity Inv MM: Govt Port ($276.6B), Morgan Stanley Inst Liq Govt ($219.8B), State Street Inst US Govt ($198.7B), BlackRock Lq FedFund ($196.5B), BlackRock Lq Treas Tr ($185.7B), Dreyfus Govt Cash Mgmt ($184.9B) and Fidelity Inv MM: MM Port ($161.0B). (Let us know if you'd like to see our latest domestic U.S. and/or "offshore" Weekly Portfolio Holdings collection and summary.)

Money fund yields (7-day, annualized, simple, net) were up 1 bp at 3.46% on average during the week ended Thursday, June 18 (as measured by our Crane 100 Money Fund Index), after going unchanged the week prior. Fund yields hadn't been below 3.5% since November 2022, and they are down from a recent high of 5.20% in November 2023. They should remain flat in coming days (and weeks) since the Fed left short-term rates unchanged last week. Yields were 3.47% on 4/30/26 and 3/31/26, 3.49% on 2/28/26, 3.50% on 1/31/26, 3.58% on 12/31/25, 3.78% on 11/30, 3.90% on 10/31, 3.94% on 9/30, 4.11% on 8/31, 4.12% on 7/31, 4.13% on 6/30, 4.14% on 3/31/25 and 4.28% on average on 12/31/24. MMFs averaged 4.75% on 9/30/24, 5.10% on 6/28/24, 5.14% on 3/31/24 and 5.20% on 12/31/23. The broader Crane Money Fund Average, which includes all taxable funds tracked by Crane Data (currently 716), shows a 7-day yield of 3.36%, up 1 bp in the week through Thursday. Prime Inst money fund yields were up 1 bp at 3.58% in the latest week. Government Inst MFs were up 1 bp at 3.45%. Treasury Inst MFs were unchanged at 3.42%. Treasury Retail MFs currently yield 3.20%, Government Retail MFs yield 3.18% and Prime Retail MFs yield 3.37%, Tax-exempt MF 7-day yields were up 9 bps to 2.32%. Money market mutual fund assets have now hit an all-time record high of $8.370 trillion on June 16, the previous record of $8.346 trillion was seen two weeks prior (6/4), and prior to that, $8.334 trillion on June 2, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. Assets have increased $8.9 billion in the week through Thursday, and they've increased by $20.1 billion in June month-to-date (through 6/18). MMF assets increased by $208.6 billion in May, decreased by $108.8 billion in April, $49.3 billion in March, increased by $99.5 billion in February, $32.9 billion in January, $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose by $63.7 billion in July and $6.7 billion last June. Weighted average maturities were at 42 days for the Crane MFA and 44 days the Crane 100 Money Fund Index. According to Monday's Money Fund Intelligence Daily, with data as of Thursday (6/18), just 170 money funds (out of 827 total) yield under 3.0% with $231.0 billion in assets, or 2.8%, while the vast majority (657) of funds yield between 3.00% and 3.99% ($8.081 trillion, or 97.2%). No funds yield over 4.0%. Our Brokerage Sweep Intelligence Index, an average of FDIC-insured cash options from major brokerages, was unchanged at 0.29%, after falling 1 bp four weeks prior. The latest Brokerage Sweep Intelligence, with data as of June 18, shows no changes over the past week. Four of the 10 major brokerages tracked by our BSI offer rates of 0.01% for balances of $100K (and lower tiers). These include: E*Trade, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Schwab.

The Investment Company Institute's latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report shows money fund assets jumping $39.7 billion to a record $7.919 trillion, after they decreased $21.5 billion the previous week. MMF assets are up by $904 billion, or 12.9%, over the past 52 weeks (through 6/17/26), with Institutional MMFs up $710 billion, or 17.2% and Retail MMFs up $194 billion, or 6.7%. Year-to-date in 2026, MMF assets are up by $186 billion, or 2.4%, with Institutional MMFs up $178 billion, or 3.8% and Retail MMFs up $8 billion, or 0.3%. ICI's weekly release says, "Total money market fund assets increased by $39.67 billion to $7.92 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, June 17, the Investment Company Institute reported.... Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $36.26 billion and prime funds increased by $40 million. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $3.37 billion." ICI's stats show Institutional MMFs increasing $49.5 billion and Retail MMFs decreasing $9.8 billion in the latest week. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $6.540 trillion (82.5% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $1.231 trillion (15.6%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $148.3 billion (1.8%). It explains, "Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $9.79 billion to $3.09 trillion. Among retail funds, government money market fund assets decreased by $8.71 billion to $1.96 trillion, prime money market fund assets decreased by $2.95 billion to $986.52 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $1.87 billion to $134.32 billion." Retail assets account for 39.3% of the total, and Government Retail assets make up 63.8% of all Retail MMFs. They add, "Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $49.46 billion to $4.83 trillion. Among institutional funds, government money market fund assets increased by $44.97 billion to $4.57 trillion, prime money market fund assets increased by $2.99 billion to $244.38 billion, and tax-exempt fund assets increased by $1.50 billion to $14.01 billion." Institutional assets accounted for 60.7% of all MMF assets, with Government Institutional assets making up 94.7% of all institutional MMF totals. According to Crane Data's separate Money Fund Intelligence Daily series, money fund assets have increased by $63.7 billion to $8.355 trillion month-to-date in June (as of 6/17). Assets hit a record high on June 16 of $8.370 trillion. Assets increased $208.6 billion in May, decreased by $108.8 billion in April, $49.3 billion in March, increased $99.5 billion in February, $32.9 billion in January, $126.3 billion in December, $132.8 billion in November, $142.1 billion in October, $105.2 billion in September and $132.0 billion in August. They rose $63.7 billion in July and $6.7 billion last June. Note that ICI's asset totals don't include a number of funds tracked by the SEC and Crane Data, so they're almost $400 billion lower than Crane's asset series.

Money market mutual fund assets jumped by $80.0 billion on Tuesday (June 16) to a record high of $8.370 trillion, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily. Assets have risen $41.7 billion in the week through Tuesday, and they've increased by $78.8 billion in June month-to-date (through 6/16). (Some are speculating that the increase is the proceeds of the SpaceAI IPO.) In other news, a release, "Federal Reserve Issues FOMC Statement," tells us, "The Federal Open Market Committee approved the following statement for release by a 12 – 0 vote: The Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3-1/2 to 3-3/4 percent, in support of the Federal Reserve's dual mandate. The Committee reaffirmed its policy of maintaining ample reserves in the banking system. Economic activity is expanding at a solid pace despite elevated uncertainty that owes, in part, to the conflict in the Middle East. Productivity growth and capital investment are strong. Job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little." They write, "Inflation remains elevated relative to the Committee's 2 percent goal, in part reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy. The Committee will deliver price stability."

Fitch Ratings published "U.S. Local Government Investment Pools Monitor: 1Q26" recently. They tell us, "Fitch Ratings' two local government investment pool (LGIP) indices reflected asset declines in the first quarter of 2026 (1Q26). Total assets for the Fitch Liquidity LGIP Index and the Fitch Short-Term LGIP Index were $661.5 billion at quarter end, down $4.56 billion QoQ but up $6.9 billion YoY. The 1.1% YoY growth rate from 1Q25 to 1Q26 was the slowest recorded to date since Fitch created the indices in 2017. This extends the trend of decreasing single-digit YoY growth seen in recent quarters. The Fitch Liquidity LGIP Index declined 0.2% QoQ and the Fitch Short-Term LGIP Index declined by 1.5% QoQ, compared with average first quarter changes of a 5.3% increase and a 1.6% decline, respectively, over the past three years." The update continues, "Both Fitch indices ended the quarter with lower average yield profiles, as net yields averaged 3.70% for the Liquidity Index and 3.93% for the Short-Term Index, a decline of 13 bps and 6 bps, respectively. The decline reflects the lagged effect of the Fed's rate cuts in late 2025, as well as a lower-rate environment during 1Q26, when the Fed held policy rates steady. As reinvestment opportunities reset at lower levels, LGIP managers faced continued pressure on portfolio yields. The WAM for the Fitch Liquidity LGIP Index rose to 45 days in Q1 from 39 days in Q425, remaining above prime '2a-7' money market funds (MMFs) at 33 days. The Fitch Short-Term LGIP Index ended the quarter with a duration of 1.38 years, up 10% since last quarter. With the Fed on hold, managers selectively extended along the curve to lock in available yields despite expectations for additional easing becoming less certain amid persistent inflation and broader economic uncertainty, resulting in modestly longer portfolio profiles." The brief adds, "The Fitch Liquidity LGIP Index increased exposure to commercial paper by 3.8% while reducing exposure to asset-backed securities by 3.5% QoQ, consistent with stronger CP issuance and supply during the quarter. Total outstanding CP grew to $1.42 trillion, representing a $99 billion increase over the quarter. These allocation shifts reflect managers' active response to evolving market supply conditions and continued focus on liquidity and yield."

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