BankRate writes on CNBC.com, "Explainer: How the New Money Market Guarantees Work". It quotes Peter Crane on funds signing up for the Treasury guaranty program, "Fidelity and Vanguard had the luxury of waiting.... It's more that Fidelity and Vanguard didn't experience significant outflows. Most of them feel, 'why buy it anyway?' This is really a public relations move. Nobody expects to use the insurance. This is really just to put investors at ease. Certainly, had the run that was starting in money funds developed into a full-blown run, everyone would have needed it. You stop the run and you don't need the insurance. You don't stop the run and you're dead anyway." It also quotes Crane, "There was this massive shift in the high end of the institutional market; but the retail market was barely impacted.... Overall, the money funds were fortunate to keep a lot of that cash in the house. Undoubtedly, some money went to banks, but if you look at the numbers, it seems most of the assets stayed in fund complexes and merely shifted from prime into Treasury or government."
