"Money Funds: Fee-Free, Ho-Hum"
Saturday's Wall Street Journal writes, "Money Funds: Fee-Free, Ho-Hum," which says, "Investors spooked by stocks and most bonds have found relief in money-market mutual funds -- but that comfort may be deceiving. Despite recent improvements in the credit markets, many money-market funds are providing positive yields only because of waivers on management fees. In other words, fund firms are taking a hit so their shareholders don't. Starting late last year, many firms waived some fees, and even closed certain funds to new investors, as interest rates fell in response to the freeze in the credit markets. Six months later, money-fund investors are seeing negligible returns while firms are forgoing revenue in difficult times." Also in the Weekend Journal is "Is Your Fund Pawning Shares at Your Expense?", which criticizes securities lending in stock and bond funds. It says, "At OppenheimerFunds, cash collateral generated by securities lending may be invested in a fund run by the parent company but not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.... Oppenheimer does disclose that it charges its funds 0.08% annually to reinvest their collateral in its OFI Liquid Assets Fund.... Since September 2007, I estimate, Oppenheimer has collected at least $2 million in these fees-piled-on-fees." See too WSJ's "Your Cash: How Safe Is Safe?", which discusses ways around the limits on deposit insurance. Finally, WSJ also carried "Reserve Management Clears Treasury Fund". (See Reserve's release here.)
