U.S. Money Markets Recovering, But Europe and Canada Facing Problems. The worst of the
Commercial Paper Panic of '07 appears to be over in the U.S. money markets. Contrary to media reports,
investors have not abandoned commercial paper, ABCP or money funds, and markets have begun differentiating between types of CP, ABCP and extendible ABCP. While spreads and problems remain, the market is alive and well. The commercial paper market'
s "
orderly exit" feature, though not as orderly as one would like, has seen fringe issuers move to backup credit lines and funding means.
The larger problems (relatively) now appear to be in Canada, which has seen a number more ABCP extensions and bank-sponsored fund bailouts (
see
article), and
in Europe, which continues to have issues with the quality of its commercial paper and money markets.