Two weeks from today, Crane Data will host its fourth annual Bond Fund Symposium, which will take place online the afternoons of March 25 and 26. We cancelled last year's event, which had been scheduled to take place in Boston in late March. Governments and businesses locked down travel and events due to fears over the coronavirus almost exactly one year ago, triggering the money market mayhem we've since labelled as the March Madness. It's been a crazy and difficult year for everyone, but it's been particularly rough on the conference and the cash business. Below, we review our upcoming virtual show, and we also review the events of last March. We hope all are healthy and well and we look forward to a return to normalcy, travel and in-person conferences in coming months.
Bond Fund Symposium offers a concentrated and affordable educational experience for bond fund and fixed-income professionals with a focus on the ultra-short sector of the market. Registrations are $250 and "comp" and sponsor tickets are also available. (Ask us if you'd like more information.) See the latest agenda and details here. Portfolio managers, analysts, investors, issuers, service providers, and anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of bond funds and fixed-income investing will benefit from our comprehensive program. E-mail us for the brochure and more details.
Our BF Symposium Agenda kicks off on Thursday, March 25 with "Bond Market Strategists: Rates, Risks, Spreads" featuring Ira Jersey of Bloomberg Intelligence, Alex Roever of J.P. Morgan Securities and Michael Cloherty of UBS. The rest of the Day 1 agenda includes: "Short & Shorter: Ultra‐Shorts vs. SMAs, ESG," with Dave Martucci of J.P. Morgan A.M., and Jerome Schneider of PIMCO; "ESG & ETF Issues in the Bond Fund Space" with Henry Shilling of Sustainable Research & Analysis and James McNerny of JPMAM; and, a "Senior Portfolio Manager Perspectives" panel with Brett Davis of BlackRock, Joanne Driscoll of Putnam Investments and Dave Rothweiler of UBS Asset Management.
Day 1 also features the pre-recorded sessions: "Major Issues in Fixed-Income Investing" with Logan Miller of Wells Fargo Securities, Matthew Brill of Invesco and Morten Olsen of Northern Trust A.M.; and "ETF and Near-Cash ETF Trends," with Brian McMullen of Invesco. (These sessions will be available for attendees via our Content Center following the live sessions, and all the sessions and materials will be available to Crane Data Subscribers)
Day 2 of BFS features: "State of the Bond Fund Marketplace" with Peter Crane of Crane Data and Shelly Antoniewicz of the Investment Company Institute; "Regulatory Update: Latest Bond Fund Issues," with Aaron Withrow of Dechert, and Jamie Gershkow of Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young; a "Government Bond Market & Fund Discussion" with Sue Hill of Federated Investors and Bloomberg's Ira Jersey; a "Municipal Bond Market Overview" with Kristian Lind of Neuberger Berman and J.R. Rieger of the Rieger Report; and, "Bond Fund Tools & Data" with our Peter Crane.
Day 2 also features the pre-recorded sessions: "Money Fund Update & Conservative USBFs" featuring Crane and Kerry Pope of Fidelity Investments and "US Bond Funds Ratings & LGIP Market Update," with Peter Gargiulo of Fitch Ratings and Emelyne Uchiyama of S&P Global Ratings.
After shutting down in-person conferences for over a year, Crane Data is excited to host live events again, starting with our big show Money Fund Symposium. While MFS is currently scheduled for June 23-25, 2021, we are preparing to push it back to Sept. 20-21, 2021, when we think more people will be able to travel and most restrictions should be lifted. Crane's Money Fund Symposium will take place at The Loews Hotel, in Philadelphia, Pa. The preliminary agenda is available and registrations are now being taken. (We expect travel to be safe by fall, but we'll refund or credit any cancellations for any reason.)
Visit the MF Symposium website for more details, and watch for the agenda to be tweaked once we've confirmed the new Sept. 20-21 dates. Registration is $750, and discounted hotel reservations are available. We hope you'll join us in person in Philadelphia! We'd like to encourage attendees, speakers and sponsors to register and make hotel reservations early, but we of course understand if you need to wait for travel restrictions to ease. E-mail us at info@cranedata.com to request the full brochure.
We're also preparing for our next European Money Fund Symposium, scheduled for Oct. 21-22, 2021, in Paris, France, but this show could shift if travel in Europe is slow to return. Finally, mark your calendars for next year's Money Fund University "basic training" event, Jan. 20-21, 2022, in Boston, Mass. Let us know if you'd like more details on any of our events, and we hope to see you virtually at BFS, or live in Philadelphia or Paris later this year!
Little did we know last year that the cancellation of Bond Fund Symposium would be the followed by the freezing of the CP market on Friday the 13th. This triggered one of the most tumultuous weeks in the history of money market mutual funds. Our March 18, 2020 Crane Data News featured, "Fed Announces Commercial Paper Funding Facility; ICI Holdings Update." We wrote, "A statement released yesterday, entitled, 'Federal Reserve Board announces establishment of a Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF)' explains, 'The Federal Reserve Board announced ... that it will establish a Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF) to support the flow of credit to households and businesses.... By ensuring the smooth functioning of this market, particularly in times of strain, the Federal Reserve is providing credit that will support families, businesses, and jobs across the economy. The CPFF will provide a liquidity backstop to U.S. issuers of commercial paper through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will purchase unsecured and asset-backed commercial paper rated A1/P1 (as of March 17, 2020) directly from eligible companies. The CPFF program is established by the Federal Reserve under the authority of Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, with approval of the Treasury Secretary.' (NOTE: See also the WSJ article, 'Treasury Department Asks Congress to Let It Backstop Money Markets.')"
A day later, we posted, "Treasury to Temporarily Guarantee Money Mkt Funds; Fed Adds MMLF." Our piece explained, "Following days of concern about illiquidity in the commercial paper markets and outflows from Prime money market funds, the U.S. Treasury sought approval from Congress to launch a program to guarantee money market mutual funds for the second time in history. The Federal Reserve also stepped in with another support program. While details are scant, they should be forthcoming in coming days, and this, along with the launch of the new MMLF lending facility, should put an end to the budding run. The Wall Street Journal broke the news in its brief, 'Treasury Department Asks Congress to Let It Backstop Money Markets.' (See also the Fed's MMLF statement here.)"
On March 20, 2020, we published, "MMF Assets Hit Record High on Huge Govt Jump, Prime Drop; More MMLF," which said, "Money market mutual fund assets broke above their previous January 2009 record levels this week on a record jump in assets, as assets of Government funds skyrocketed and Prime MMFs plunged, according to the ICI's latest weekly '`Money Market Fund Assets' report. It explains, 'Total money market fund assets increased by $158.62 billion to $3.94 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, March 18, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, government funds increased by $249.33 billion and prime funds decreased by $85.38 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds decreased by $5.32 billion.' ICI's weekly series shows Institutional MMFs rising $123.2 billion and Retail MMFs increasing $35.5 billion. Total Government MMF assets, including Treasury funds, were $3.094 trillion (78.6% of all money funds), while Total Prime MMFs were $712.7 billion (18.1%). Tax Exempt MMFs totaled $129.2 billion, 3.3%."
As we moved into the second week of full lockdown, so did the 'dash for cash.' Assets poured into Government money market funds, driving assets to record highs. But the Prime and Municipal segments suffered big outlows. We wrote the March 23 piece, "Goldman, Dreyfus Move to Support Prime MMFs; Fed MMLF Adds Munis," explaining, "Money market mutual funds experienced one of the craziest weeks in their 50 year history last week as the Federal Reserve and Treasury launched emergency measures to calm turmoil and outflows in the Prime and Municipal segments of the market. Meanwhile, Government money funds saw record-shattering inflows and overall assets surged to record levels not seen since January 2009. Late last week, two fund groups, Goldman Sachs and Dreyfus, acted to provide liquidity to their funds. Dreyfus parent BNY Mellon took steps to provide liquidity and support NAVs by purchasing blocks of 'money good' securities at par, while Goldman Sachs Bank USA provided liquidity by purchasing assets from the fund at market value as fears over the coronavirus wreaked havoc across the economy and impaired liquidity in financial markets. Prime money assets declined by $97.7 billion to $981.3 billion in the week through Thursday, March 19, but the flows have begun slowing under the onslaught of Federal Reserve and Treasury support programs. Government money market funds jumped by $264.5 billion to $3.150 trillion, and Tax Exempt MMFs fell $6.1 billion to $134.0 billion.... Month-to-date in March (through 3/19), Prime assets have fallen by $113.9 billion, Govt funds have risen by $419.5 billion, and Tax Exempt have fallen by $5.8 billion."
Finally, on March 24, we wrote, "Fed MMMF Liquidity Facility Adds CDs, VRDNs; OCC Revises STIF Rules." Crane Data said, "The Federal Reserve pulled out all the stops to support the money markets Monday, as its Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, announced March 18, reached full force and was expanded to include almost all major asset classes owned by MMFs (CDs and VRDNs were the keys adds over the weekend). The move appears to be ratcheting down the level of danger in the money markets substantially, though we're not out of the woods yet. Prime outflows have decreased for 5 days in a row and weekly liquid assets increased noticeably Monday. The recently posted 'Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility FAQs' explains, 'How will this program support money market mutual funds (MMMFs)? In the days prior to the initiation of the program, some MMMFs experienced significant demands for redemptions by investors. Under ordinary circumstances, they would have been able to meet those demands by selling assets. Recently, however, many money markets have become extremely illiquid due to uncertainty related to the coronavirus outbreak."
It adds, "Pursuant to Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, and with prior approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) authorized the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (FRBB) to establish the MMLF. In addition, the Secretary of the Treasury, using the Exchange Stabilization Fund, will provide $10 billion of credit protection to FRBB. The MMLF will assist MMMFs in meeting demands for redemptions by households and other investors, enhancing overall market functioning and the provision of credit to households, businesses and municipalities.'"
