ignites.com features Money Fund Stories
Mutual fund news source ignites.com features two stories involving money market mutual funds today. The first, "Auction Rate Replacements Give Closed-Enders Hope", discusses "closed-end [fund] players' efforts at thawing out the frozen auction rate securities market". It quotes Peter Crane, "I think these things are going to go over like a lead zeppelin. The danger of headline risk is just too great." The ignites website also features, "Merrill and BlackRock Make Money Fund Changes." This story discusses "housekeeping" regulatory filings by Merrill Lynch and BlackRock funds, saying, "Merrill's recent filing adds to the list of parties privy to the select portfolio holdings.... `Such expanded reach represents the increased attention investors are paying to money funds and increased demands for disclosure, says Crane." Ignites adds, "Another change to perhaps assuage skittish investors is tighter language around what would happen if the Merrill Lynch funds were to 'break the buck', or slip below a net asset value of $1 per share. Previously, the Merrill prospectus stated that the funds' trustees had 'established procedures designed to stabilize, to the extent reasonably possible,' the $1-per-share net asset value. 'Deviation of more than an insignificant amount,' it read, 'will be reported to the trustees by the manager.'"
