The Arizona Republic's Russ Wiles writes "Despite the economic worries, there are a few pieces of good news", which says, "But not everything has unraveled on the economic front. Here are a few examples of reasonably good news: Money-market funds: When the credit crunch hit last year, many experts worried about money-market mutual funds. Dozens of funds held exotic IOUs carrying credit risks. The fear was that defaults would cause funds to incur losses so that their prices would 'break the buck' or drop below the standard $1 a share, triggering panic.... But those fears have largely abated. The funds stopped buying shaky instruments, and most problem holdings have since matured, said Peter Crane, publisher of the Money Fund Intelligence newsletter. He said 16 fund-management firms voluntarily absorbed losses on bad holdings, while investors continued to add money to the funds, diluting problems with new cash." It quotes Crane, "The saving grace has been a large cash inflow. Investors haven't blinked."
