Crane Data Subscribers
The Credit Crunch Will Continue Says Survey at AFP's Boston Conference. A survey at the Association of Financial Professionals (AFP), the world's largest corporate treasury event, found that 62% of respondents think the "turmoil in the credit markets will continue for some time". Seventy-six percent expect the Federal Reserve to continue to lower interest rates before the end of 2007 with 66% expecting a 25 basis point cut. AFP's 2007 "Liquidity Survey", conducted earlier this year, found that treasurer's currently hold 30.9% of their organizations' short-term investments in money market mutual funds, the largest allocation. They also hold 27.1% in bank deposits, 9.4% in commercial paper, 6.3% in repo, and 5.1% in auction-rate securities. Electronic, multi-family trading portals were used by 23% of treasurers or short-term investments. While this year's AFP conference was short on money market content, over 20 fund companies exhibited.
