The Wall Street Journal writes "Crisis Lessons Learned, Commercial-Paper Market Skates Through Tumult". It says, "The market for short-term borrowers and lenders is just about the only place investors haven't lost their cool this week -- a big step up from 2008, when the commercial-paper market famously required a Federal Reserve facility to avoid freezing entirely. What has kept this $1 trillion market from suffering the same volatile trading that has sent share prices and currencies bouncing around is a year-old regulation forcing money-market funds to hold more short-term debt. The rule, implemented by the Securities and Exchange Commission starting in May 2010, has helped convince investors and issuers that money will keep flowing through the commercial-paper market, even during a crisis." The Journal quotes Rob Little, head of global short term fixed income origination at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, "The market is in much better shape that it could withstand a real shock ... because the system is so much better prepared. The government would not have to step in."
