"Investors Sell Short-Term Bank Debt"
"Investors Sell Short-Term Bank Debt" writes The Wall Street Journal, saying, "A recent ratings warning on 23 financial institutions and a tweak in one of the Federal Reserve's programs to shore up money-market funds is pushing investors to unload billions of dollars of short-term bank debt.... The Fed reported that it extended $29 billion of financing through its Asset-Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, or AMLF, up sharply from $3.7 billion in the prior week." In other news, see ICI's weekly "Money Market Mutual Fund Assets", which show money market fund assets declining by $11.0 billion to $3.787 trillion for the week ended May 6. Money funds assets have declined for 4 weeks in a row and for 7 out of the last 8 weeks. They've fallen by $119.4 billion, or 3.1%, since March 11, and they are $135 billion below their record high of $3.922 trillion set on Jan. 14, 2009. Finally, Peter Crane will be speaking Friday a.m. at the Treasury Management Association of New England's annual conference at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. The topic is "The Shifting Landscape of Money Market Funds: Doing Your Diligence & Avoiding Landmines." (Contact us if you'd like a copy of our slides.)
