US money market fund assets declined by $13.56 billion to their lowest level in over two months at $2.747 trillion in the week ended January 19, as taxable fund yields rose for a second straight week, the Money Fund Report said on Wednesday. The asset loss was greater than the prior week's $11.90 billion increase.
Taxable money market fund assets decreased by $11.43 billion to $2.492 trillion, while tax-free assets decreased by $2.12 billion to $255.00 billion, according to the report, published by iMoneyNet.
The iMoneyNet Money Fund average seven-day yield for all taxable money-market funds increased again to 0.08 percent from 0.07 percent the week before.
The average seven-day yield for tax-free and municipal money-market funds tracked by iMoneyNet remained at 0.01 percent for the 142nd straight week.
While the average taxable fund yield has risen since the Federal Reserve raised interest rates last month, it is running below the comparable rate offered by saving accounts.
The national interest rate on savings accounts is averaging 0.11 percent with some running as high as 1.11 percent, according to Bankrate.com.
There are some taxable money funds that offer well above-average yields. BlackRock's prime cash funds for institutional investors had a seven-day yield of 0.42 percent, the highest among the funds tracked by iMoneynet in the latest week.