Boston Globe Spreads Good News
In an article entitled, "For money market investors, things are looking up a bit," The Boston Globe writes, "One percent may not seem like much to cheer about. But after a decade of suffering with paltry earnings on money market accounts, investors are starting to do slightly better, with the top-paying funds pressing through the 1 percent mark in recent days. The Federal Reserve's three small rate hikes since December 2015 -- each just a quarter percent -- have breathed some life back into these vehicles, billed as safe places to park cash. But the returns are still a long way from the 5 percent investors could get on money markets in 2007, before the economy fell off a cliff.... The highest return offered last week, 1.06 percent on Fidelity's Money Market Portfolio, would provide a $106 payout on $10,000 -- a figure that should grow modestly if the central bank continues to raise rates, as predicted, at least twice more this year. But while savers are still mostly collecting pocket change from their money market accounts, the managers running the funds are once again reaping big profits." "It's billions of dollars that those three Fed hikes have delivered to money funds," said Peter G. Crane, president of Crane Data in Westborough and publisher of Money Fund Intelligence. The large money market fund managers, led by Boston-based Fidelity Investments, had dramatically cut the expenses they charge, in order to retain customers after the financial crisis, making the business far less profitable. The rising rates of late, Crane said, mean "hundreds of millions for Fidelity." The piece adds, "The good news for beleaguered savers also marks a big turnaround for the money market industry. Industrywide, Crane said, firms have been collecting $7.5 billion in annualized monthly revenue from money market funds so far this year. That's more than double the $3.5 billion in revenue in 2014, and $1 billion higher than last year's take."
