Bloomberg writes "Treasury Money Funds Shun New Investors to Protect Yields, Fees", saying, "Money-market mutual funds that buy mostly U.S. Treasuries are starting to turn away new investors as the lowest yields on government debt in 50 years pull down returns for shareholders and squeeze managers' fees. At least three Treasury money-market funds run by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Evergreen Investments and Allegiant Asset Management recently stopped taking outside cash, according to Web site notices and regulatory filings. The article also says, "Some money-market funds that invest in Treasuries may seek to increase their yields by delving into bank debt backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Crane said." It adds, Douglas Scheidt, an associate director in the SEC's investment-management division, "said in an interview that he has received calls from lawyers representing money-market funds asking whether the FDIC-backed debt would qualify as government securities. 'From what we can tell, the FDIC guarantee would be a government guarantee, so it would be a government security,' said Scheidt."
