Yesterday, Sept. 15, was the sixth anniversary of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, and six years ago today, September 16, the money market industry was rocked when the Reserve Fund "broke the buck," only the second fund ever to decline below $1.00. We covered it extensively in the days that followed, including this article "Reserve Primary Fund "Breaks the Buck" Following Run on Assets." We wrote, "In just the second case of a money market mutual fund "breaking the buck," or dropping below the $1.00 a share level, in history, The Reserve's Primary Fund cut its NAV to $0.97 cents.... The top-ranked fund, which held $785 million in Lehman Brothers CP and MTNs, was besieged by redemptions over the past two days. Assets of the total portfolio, which is largely institutional but which includes some retail assets, declined a massive $27.3 billion Monday and Tuesday to $35.3 billion. The next day, Sept. 17, 2008, Crane Data wrote "Ugly All Over: Putnam Inst Closes: Lehman AAA on Warning, Outflows." We wrote, "`Things have gone from bad to extremely ugly in the money market fund world over the past two and a half days since The Reserve's Primary fund "broke the buck." Putnam just announced that it is closing its Putnam Prime Money Market Fund effective today, Moody's has put Lehman Brothers AAA-rated money funds on review for downgrade, and asset outflows, while not as bad as some suggest, were ugly through yesterday. Money fund assets declined by $78.7 billion yesterday, though the Reserve run accounted for $32.3 billion of the decline, according to our Money Fund Intelligence Daily." Read more about the tumultuous events of six years ago in our September 2008 Crane Data News Archives. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew released a statement yesterday recognizing the 6th anniversary of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. It says, "Six years ago this month, our financial system was shocked to its core. The damage this crisis unleashed spread throughout our economy, and the result was massive job loss, waves of business failures, devastating home foreclosures, decimated retirement accounts and an economy on the brink of another Great Depression. It was set in motion by weaknesses in our system -- including irresponsible leverage, excessive risk-taking, reckless and too often predatory lending, and inadequate oversight. Because of the immediate crisis response, the effective policies put in place by the Federal Reserve, both presidents Bush and Obama, the resilience of the American people and the determination of our businesses, our economy is stronger today than it was when the crisis erupted."
