The October 2009 issue of our flagship Money Fund Intelligence features the articles: "Money Fund Survivor: Outlasting Zero Yields," which discusses survivability and the distribution of yields, "Neuberger Berman Talks Tax-Exempt Money Markets," which profiles industry veterans Janet Fiorenza and Kristian Lind, and "Taking a Closer Look at Money Fund Market Share," which discusses the winners and losers of assets over the past year. Every issue of MFI features news, indexes, and performance information on over 1,300 money market mutual funds. (Annual subscriptions are $500.)
Our "Survivor" piece says, "With almost half (45.6%) of all taxable money market mutual funds yielding either zero or just one basis point (0.01%), the question of profitability, and even survivability, is becoming a very real one for many funds." The article contains a table showing the distribution of 30-day yields (from 0.00% to 0.50%) among taxable money funds, and includes a discussion of the accuracy of expense ratios and gross yield estimates in the ultra-low yield environment.
MFI's monthly money fund "profile" highlights Neuberger Berman's Tax Exempt Money Fund Portfolio Manager Team. We interview Janet Fiorenza, Head of Municipal Fixed Income, and Kristian Lind, Portfolio Manager & Vice President, and discuss the advisor's focus on tax exempt money market funds and recent events in the municipal money markets. Look for excerpts from this story in coming days.
The "Taking a Closer Look at Market Share" segment includes a ranking of the largest 50 managers of money market mutual funds by assets (excerpted from our monthly MFI XLS product). This article says, "The four largest money fund complexes -- Fidelity, JPMorgan, Federated, and Dreyfus -- all have been big winners over the past 12 months, a period when money fund assets gained a mere 1.9%. No. 1-ranked Fidelity, with $500.2 billion, gained $69.2 billion (16.0%); No. 2-ranked JPMorgan, with $379.6 billion, gained $82.0 billion (27.5%); No. 3-ranked Federated, with $275.5 billion, gained $28.6 billion (11.6%); and, No. 4-ranked Dreyfus, with $227.7 billion, gained $24.4 billion (12.0%)."
Finally, our Crane Money Fund Indexes showed very little change for the month. The Crane Money Fund Average was unchanged (7-day annualized yield) at 0.06%, while the Crane 100 MF Index inched one basis point lower to 0.11% in September. The Crane Institutional MF Index remained at 0.10% and the Crane Retail MF Index remained at 0.03%. Our Crane Tax Exempt MF Index rose 1 bps to 0.10%. For a full listing, see MFI or Crane Index, or see our Crane Indexes on Bloomberg. (Type 'ALLX CRNI' for a listing.)
