The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal writes "Money Fund Inflows Hit Four-Year High as TAG Expires". It says, "Cash flowing into money market funds soared to the highest level in nearly four years during the week ended Tuesday. The move culminated a two-month push into such funds ahead of the expiration of an unlimited Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. guarantee on certain corporate bank accounts Dec. 31, which wasn't renewed for 2013 by Congress last month. Since the week ended Oct. 31, money market funds saw a net inflow of over $158.2 billion dollars, according to data compiled by the Investment Company Institute.... For the week ended on Tuesday, inflows totaled nearly $37.8 billion, the highest inflow level since the week ended Jan. 7, 2009, according to Peter Crane, president of Crane Data, which publishes the Money Fund Intelligence newsletter. The ends of months, quarters and years typically see outflows or weak inflows, which "sealed the deal" that these large inflows were related to the expiration of the FDIC's Transaction Account Guarantee Program, commonly known as TAG, Mr. Crane said." The piece adds, "Though companies did move a significant chunk of cash out of non-interest-bearing accounts and into money funds, Mr. Crane said, they continue to leave the bulk of the $1.5 trillion in such accounts where it is. Many, however, have switched to strategies that separate the cash into several accounts that each fall below the standard, $250,000 threshold for FDIC insurance, he said."
