An announcement entitled, "Federal Reserve offers seven-​day term deposits at 26 basis points through its term deposit facility, says, "​On March 3, 2014, the Federal Reserve will conduct a fixed-​rate offering of term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility (​TDF). The Federal Reserve will offer seven-​day term deposits with an interest rate of 0.​26000 percent and a maximum tender amount of $​1,​250,​000,​000. As noted in the Federal Reserve Board'​s February 21, 2014, release, this operation is part of ongoing small-​value operations designed to provide eligible institutions with an opportunity to gain familiarity with term deposit operations. Additional information regarding the operation is listed below; the operation will be conducted as specified in this announcement, Regulation D, and the terms and conditions of the Term Deposit Facility (http://​www.​frbservices.​org/​centralbank/​term_deposit_facility.​html).

While there haven'​t been any new "Comments on Proposed Rule: Money Market Fund Reform; Amendments to Form PF posted to the SEC'​s website over the past month, there have been some additional entries down below in the "Meetings with SEC Officials" section (​page down to the bottom). A cluster of meetings were posted on Feb. 20, including: Memorandum from the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs regarding a February 19, 2014, meeting with representatives of the Offices of Senator Edward Markey and Senator Elizabeth Warren, Memorandum from the Division of Investment Management regarding a February 10, 2014, meeting with representatives of Bloomberg ("​the parties discussed Bloomberg'​s stress testing functionality as it relates to the Commission'​s proposal on money market fund reform."), Memorandum from the Division of Investment Management regarding a February 19, 2014, meeting with representatives of the Government Finance Officers Association, Memorandum from the Office of Commissioner Kara Stein regarding a February 19, 2014, meeting with representatives of the National Association of State Treasurers, and Memorandum from the Office of Commissioner Michael S. Piwowar regarding a February 6, 2014, meeting with representatives of The Boeing Company. The Market/​Warren meeting notice says, "​On February 19, 2014, Julie Davis, Deputy Director, talked via telephone with Justin Slaughter, General Counsel, Office of Senator Ed Markey and Bharat Ramamurti, General Counsel, Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren. Among other matters, the representatives discussed the Commission'​s proposal on money market fund reform."

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York issued a "​Statement to Revise Terms of Overnight Fixed-​Rate Reverse Repurchase Agreement Operational Exercise", which says, "​As noted in the September 20, 2013, Statement Regarding Overnight Fixed-​Rate Reverse Repurchase Agreement Operational Exercise, the Open Market Trading Desk at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been conducting daily, overnight fixed-​rate reverse repo operations as part of an operational readiness exercise. Beginning with the operation to be conducted on Wednesday, February 26, the fixed rate offered in these operations will be increased from four basis points to five basis points. All other terms of the exercise will remain the same. As an operational readiness exercise, this work is a matter of prudent advance planning by the Federal Reserve. These operations do not represent a change in the stance of monetary policy, and no inference should be drawn about the timing of any change in the stance of monetary policy in the future." In other news, see The Malaysia Star'​s "​China banks hit back as Internet finance muscles into their business", which says, "​China'​s brick-​and-​mortar banks are launching a counter-​attack against the assault on their business from Alibaba and other Internet heavyweights, in a bid to staunch the outflow of bank deposits into high-​yielding online investment products. In less than eight months, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd'​s money market fund, Yu'​e Bao, has attracted 400 billion yuan (​US$​66bil) in assets under management, more than the customer deposits held by the five smallest listed Chinese banks. Similar online products from Baidu Inc and Tencent Holdings Ltd also contributed to a fall of one trillion yuan in traditional bank deposits in January."

Citi'​s Andrew Hollenhorst wrote, "​Repo rates refuse to rise", Friday, which said, "Despite two weeks of close to $​70 billion of positive net T-​bill issuance, repo rates have remained pegged against the fixed-​rate offered by the Fed'​s overnight reverse repo facility (​ON RRP). This reflects the fact that repo rates would likely have been trading at lower levels absent the ON RRP floor.... We think the majority of positive net issuance for this tax refund season is over and that Treasury is unlikely to need additional cash management bills. This should keep repo rates below 10bp through mid-​April, although they may rise a few basis points above current levels. After cash management bills mature on April 17 and 24, we expect repo rates to return to close to the ON RRP floor rate.... We think the Fed will increase allotment sizes for the ON RRP facility over the course of 2014. The Fed will likely vary the rate between 0-​5bp, the currently approved range, but will not take rates above 5bp in 2014."

On Friday, SEC Chair Mary Jo White spoke at the "SEC Speaks 2014," and only mentioned money market mutual funds in passing (​and didn'​t mention pending regulations). She said, "​When I arrived, it was imperative to set an aggressive rulemaking agenda. [​T]​hrough the tireless work of the staff and my fellow Commissioners, we made significant progress. On the day I was sworn in as Chair, we adopted identity theft rules requiring broker-​dealers, mutual funds, investment advisers.... A month after that, we proposed rules to reform and strengthen the structure of money market funds.... The SEC of 2014 is an agency that increasingly relies on technology and specialized expertise. This is particularly evident in the SEC'​s new risk monitoring and data analytics activities. One important example is the SEC'​s new focus on risk monitoring of asset managers and funds. Last year featured a very concrete success from these risk monitoring efforts when the SEC brought an enforcement case against a money market fund firm charging that it failed to comply with the risk limiting conditions of our rules. In the past year, the SEC has established a dedicated group of professionals to monitor large-​firm asset managers. These professionals who include former portfolio managers, investment analysts, and examiners track investment trends, review emerging market developments, and identify outlier funds. The tools they use include analytics of data we receive, high-​level engagement with asset manager executives and mutual fund boards, data-​driven, risk-​focused examinations, and with respect to money market funds certain stress testing results." (​See also, Commissioner Kara Stein'​s comments, which we'​ll excerpt from tomorrow.)

Fitch Ratings published a release entitled, "Money Funds Cautious on Treasury Floating Rate Notes," which says, "The US Treasury'​s first issuance of a floating rate notes (​FRN) failed to attract significant participation from money market funds due to concerns over the US debt ceiling deadline, a low spread and a desire among fund managers to observe how liquidity for the program develops, according to Fitch Ratings. Fitch believes that as the market expands over the next year, and particularly if spreads widen, money fund demand for these securities will increase. In addition, if the FRNs replace some issuance of T-​bills as currently expected, money funds are likely to increase allocations to the FRNs. Treasury FRNs held by taxable money funds at the end of January make up only 0.​07% of the funds' assets. Crane Data, LLC data shows that as of the end of January money funds held $​1.​7 billion, or 11.​2%, of the $​15 billion of first issuance. However, demand from other investors was very strong with the bid-​to-​cover ratio at 5.​67 times higher than the typical ratio for Treasury auctions. 21 US money funds sponsored by 10 different managers participated in the first auction of the FRNs. While the average allocation to Treasury FRNs for these funds was 1.​1%, it ranged from a low of 0.​3% to a high of 4.​0%, indicating varying attitudes even among participants. Fitch learned via discussions with fund sponsors that managers are not in a rush to buy Treasury FRNs, and would instead like to see how the market develops, particularly with regards to liquidity. The 4.​5 basis point spread over the three-​month T-​bill set at the first FRN auction was low compared to initial expectations and further reduced money funds' urgency to buy.... An important consideration for buying Treasury FRNs is the effect of these securities on a fund'​s weighted average life (​WAL), as money fund portfolios are limited to a WAL of 120 days."

U.​K.-​based Treasury Today writes "​MMFs: what'​s next after CNAV?" The perhaps premature piece says, "This week Europe'​s stable NAV money market funds received a temporary stay of execution after the planned European Parliament vote on new regulatory proposals was postponed. Industry stakeholders say a mass exodus from MMFs could ensue if the legislature votes to adopt the proposals as currently drafted. But where will all that liquidity go? In this Insight, we take a look at the alternatives." The article explains, "Earlier this week, European lawmakers delayed a vote on proposals to regulate money market funds (​MMFs), after splits began to appear within the European Parliament'​s economic affairs committee on the best way to proceed. The decision means that industry stakeholders now have an extra two weeks to voice their concerns on the proposals before MEPs cast their votes. Enough has already been written on the reasons why certain aspects of Europe'​s MMF regulatory proposals are so misguided that there is no need to run through it all again here. But there is one remaining area that has not yet been sufficiently explored that perhaps deserves some attention now, given the impending vote at the European Parliament. The issue is: what will happen if the regulation is indeed approved as it has been drafted? What alternatives are there to MMFs for corporate investors if a switch to VNAV is not feasible? A recent survey by Treasury Strategies, which was included in an open letter sent to the European Parliament ahead of this week'​s vote, offers a hint. In Europe, 61% of corporate treasurers invest cash in CNAV funds only, while 30% use a combination of CNAV and VNAV. If all funds are compelled to switch to VNAV, the survey indicates that 69% of CNAV fund investors will reduce or discontinue using MMFs. According to this survey, bank deposits represent the preferred alternative for a majority (​72%) of CNAV MMFs users."

Moody'​s Investors Service sent a press release entitled, "Moody'​s: MMF exposure to European banks hits 12-​month low at the end of 2013. It says, "US money market funds (​MMFs) have reduced their exposure to European financial institutions by 18% in December 2013, while Euro and Sterling MMFs reduced their exposures by 8% and 6% respectively, says Moody'​s Investors Service in a series of three new quarterly MMF reports published today. Due to year-​end redemptions, European funds' combined AUM dropped by 6.​5% over Q4, and their maturity profiles shortened significantly, by 7 days on average." The release adds, "In US domiciled funds, aggregate exposure to European financial institutions stood at approximately 25% of total investments, or $​168 billion at the end of December, down from 30% of total assets or $​205 billion at the end of November. Funds also reduced their maturity profiles and increased their liquidity levels in anticipation for year-​end redemptions.... Euro MMFs have experienced a sharp decrease in AUM (-​6.​5% or -​E4.​3 billion) to reach their lowest level in 12 months.... Funds' aggregate exposure to European financial institutions decreased EUR 4.​1 billion to EUR 23.​5 billion (​38% of AUM) during Q4, due to lack of suitably rated counterparties and banks' reluctance to borrow at year-​end due to balance sheet considerations."

"​EU money market fund rules delayed" writes the Reuters for the Irish Examiner. The article says, "EU lawmakers have delayed new rules to regulate money market funds used by big companies to park billions of euros after they clashed over how tough the changes should be. The funds are also used by banks for short-​term funding and the most contested element is a requirement for one type of fund, known as constant net asset value, to hold a cash buffer equivalent to 3% of assets. The draft rules, and a separate draft law on regulating benchmarks such as the scandal-​hit Libor interest rate, aim to make markets more transparent after the 2007-​09 financial crisis, but both measures now face delays. The European Parliament'​s economic affairs committee found itself split yesterday over regulating money market funds, a trillion euro sector in the 28-​country bloc. The aim is to stem any runs on the funds by investors during future financial crises." The article adds, "MEP Gay Mitchell, a member of the committee, said few lawmakers really understood what constant net asset values were and hasty rulemaking could see such funds flee the EU." They quote him, "It'​s outrageous the way we are rushing through this legislation."

The London-​based Institutional Money Market Funds Association, or IMMFA, which represents providers, servicers and investors of AAA-​rated "​U.​S. style" money funds in Europe, recently published two "​Policy Position" papers designed to influence the European Union'​s debate over regulating money market funds. The first, "IMMFA Recommendations for Redemption Gates and Liquidity Fees, argues "Redemption gates and liquidity fees are the most effective way of mitigating runs on MMFs," while the second, "Why Money Market Funds are not the same as banks," tells us, "while the price structure of MMFs might resemble the price structure of a bank deposit, the similarities between the two products are only superficial." IMMFA comments on "​gates," "​Fund managers have a fiduciary responsibility to treat all the investors in a mutual fund fairly and equally. Redemption gates and/​or a liquidity fee are methods by which a fund manager, if experiencing difficulty due to extreme market circumstances, can control redemptions in order to ensure that all investors are treated fairly and that no '​first-​mover' advantage exists. Investors can access their cash but must pay a liquidity fee to ensure that all those investors who remain in the fund are no worse off because of the actions of the redeeming investor(​s). This is similar in concept to the decrease in value an investor would face were they redeeming from a VNAV fund or selling directly held debt instruments. Properly constituted, a liquidity fee will act as a "​circuit-​breaker" -- a decelerant and not an accelerant of investor redemptions. The liquidity fee creates a last-​mover rather than a first-​mover advantage, ensuring that those investors who want to remain invested in a MMF can do so as they are protected from any impact of investors who do redeem during a period of stress. Liquidity fees and redemption gates can be structured in a number of different ways. Based on feedback from the regulatory community and from investors in MMFs, IMMFA proposes the following: Trigger based – The liquidity fee or redemption gate should be triggered if the one week liquidity level in a MMF falls below 10% of the assets under management in the MMF (​against the proposed regulatory minimum of 20%).... The 10% liquidity level gives the MMF sufficient time to repair and reduces the probability of the liquidity fee or gate being applied unnecessarily.... Floating fee – The liquidity fee should reflect the estimated cost of raising liquidity to meet redemptions. Consistent with treating shareholders fairly, it should be based on the estimated cost to the whole MMF and not merely the cost of selling the most liquid asset in the MMF portfolio. Calculated this way the fee is punitive to neither redeemers nor the investors which remain in the MMF."

Money fund assets rose for just the second time in the first 6 weeks of 2014. ICI'​s latest weekly "Money Market Fund Assets" report says, "Total money market mutual fund assets increased by $​8.​00 billion to $​2.​713 trillion for the week ending Wednesday, February 12, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Taxable government funds increased by $​3.​31 billion, taxable non-​government funds increased by $​6.​47 billion, and tax-​exempt funds decreased by $​1.​78 billion. Assets of retail money market funds decreased by $​110 million to $​922.​60 billion. Taxable government money market fund assets in the retail category increased by $​780 million to $​199.​45 billion, taxable non-​government money market fund assets decreased by $​100 million to $​528.​15 billion, and tax-​exempt fund assets decreased by $​790 million to $​195.​00 billion. Assets of institutional money market funds increased by $​8.​11 billion to $​1.​790 trillion. Among institutional funds, taxable government money market fund assets increased by $​2.​53 billion to $​760.​05 billion, taxable non-​government money market fund assets increased by $​6.​57 billion to $​955.​71 billion, and tax-​exempt fund assets decreased by $​990 million to $​74.​58 billion." Year-​to-​date, money fund assets have fallen by $​6 billion, with Institutional assets up by $​1 billion and Retail assets down by $​7 billion. Money fund assets rose slightly in 2013, the second year in a row of modest gains. (​Funds were up by $​14 billion in 2013 and just $​10 billon in 2012.) This followed 3 years of huge declines. Money fund assets decreased by over $​1.​1 trillion from 2009 through 2011.

A press release says, "Institutional Cash Distributors (​ICD) today announced the release of Transparency Plus 5.​0 that provides significant functional and tactical advancements for corporate treasury department risk management practices and methodologies. With the 5.​0 release, ICD generates exposure analytics that now cut across counterparties, U.​S. government and corporate Repo Agreements, and their respective sponsor positions, providing deeper institutional investment intelligence for the corporate treasury sector. ICD introduced the first risk management exposure analytics application for institutional cash investments in 2010 soon after the SEC'​s 2a-​7 amendments required monthly disclosure and greater transparency of fund holdings." ICD Senior VP Sebastian Ramos comments, "All Repurchase Agreements are not the same and we needed a mechanism to parse traditional and nontraditional Repos. We also needed to break down nontraditional Repo into aggregate counterparty exposures to better understand the relative concentrations within these counterparties." ICD'​s Tom Knight adds, "​From the beginning we'​ve always identified Repurchase Agreements as having unique and distinct counterparty exposure impact. With our 5.​0 release, we’​ve now given corporate treasurers the tools to truly understand their Repo exposures within the context of their full portfolio." Finally, America Honda Motor Company, Inc. Treasury Manager Kim Kelly-​Lippert comments, "​I have worked with ICD for several years and this is another excellent example of the inclusive process ICD employs in making product advancements. We wanted enhanced reporting and needed a more in-​depth understanding of our Repo exposure. ICD took that input, productized new features and incorporated them into their next release."

A press release says, "J.​P. Morgan Asset Management (​JPMAM) today announced that Paula Stibbe has been appointed as Head of Global Liquidity Sales, Asia Pacific, succeeding the previous role of Travis Spence, who has recently taken a new position as Head of Global Strategic Relationship Group (​GSRG), Asia Pacific ex-​Japan under the Asia Funds Management Business. Prior to her new role, Paula was a senior Client Portfolio Manager in the Global Short Term Fixed Income Group, specialising in short-​term taxable and tax-​aware strategies. Having relocated from New York, Paula will be based in Hong Kong with regional offices in Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney. She will be responsible for sales and service of short-​term fixed income solutions along with product development across the region." John Donohue, Head of Global Liquidity of JPMAM, comments, "With over 20 years of experience in the short term fixed income space, Paula is both highly regarded and deeply experienced in the market. I am confident that the team and our clients will benefit from the expertise and experience that Paula brings to this role. We are excited to have seen the increasing demand for liquidity and short term fixed income investments in Asia Pacific, prominently in China and Japan. To capitalise on these tremendous opportunities, Paula'​s appointment is crucial to our continuing success." The release adds, "The team'​s local currency money market fund assets under management in Asia are now over US$​12.​4 billion.... In addition, the team pioneered six local currency money funds and expanded its businesses across the region. It was also instrumental in J.​P. Morgan being awarded a licence to distribute local mutual funds to institutional investors in China, establishing the first onshore direct sales team for JPMAM in China."

Reuters writes "​EU lawmakers propose pay transparency for money market funds". It says, "Managers of the European Union'​s trillion-​euro money market funds, which give access to short-​term finance at low interest rates, will need to show their pay packets do not encourage too much risk-​taking under a proposal from the bloc'​s lawmakers. It marks the latest EU attempt to extend pay rules for bankers to other parts of the financial sector in a bid to avoid the lure of a big bonus encouraging people to take on more risk. Money market funds in the EU are mainly based in France, Ireland and Luxembourg, with Black Rock and Legal & General among the leading players. They are heavily used by banks for short-​term funding and by companies to park cash and earn interest. The European Parliament will vote in committee on Feb. 17 on a draft law to shine a light on money market funds and make a run on them in a financial crisis less likely." The piece adds, "The likelihood of the extra rules making it to the final law, which would need backing from EU member states, will likely depend on whether an attempt to impose a similar regime on managers of mutual funds is successful. A separate draft law to revise the bloc'​s mutual funds rules is being finalised. Ahead of next week'​s vote, lawmakers meet privately this week to seek cross-​party agreement on two divisive issues. There is disagreement over whether some money market funds must have a safety buffer of capital. The role of the European Securities and Markets Authority, an EU watchdog, in supervising money market funds is also causing splits among lawmakers."

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York'​s "​Liberty Street Economics" blog writes "Crisis Chronicles: The Commercial Credit Crisis of 1763 and Today'​s Tri-​Party Repo Market." It says in a section entitled, "Distressed Fire Sales and the Tri-​Party Repo Market," "As we saw during the recent financial crisis, the tri-​party repo market was overly reliant on massive extensions of intraday credit, driven by the timing between the daily unwind and renewal of repo transactions. Estimates suggest that by 2007, the repo market had grown to $​10 trillion -- the same order of magnitude as the total assets in the U.​S. commercial banking sector -- and intraday credit to any particular broker/​dealer might approach $​100 billion. And as in the commercial crisis of 1763, risk was underpriced with low repo "​haircuts" -- a haircut being a demand by a depositor for collateral valued higher than the value of the deposit. Much of the work to address intraday credit risk in the repo market will be complete by year-​end 2014, when intraday credit will have been reduced from 100 percent to about 10 percent. But as New York Fed President William C. Dudley noted in his recent introductory remarks at the conference "​Fire Sales" as a Driver of Systemic Risk, "current reforms do not address the risk that a dealer'​s loss of access to tri-​party repo funding could precipitate destabilizing asset fire sales." For example, in a time of market stress, when margin calls and mark-​to-​market losses constrain liquidity, firms are forced to deleverage. As recently pointed out by our New York Fed colleagues, deleveraging could impact other market participants and market sectors in current times, just as it did in 1763.... As we look toward a tri-​party repo market structure that is more resilient to "​destabilizing asset fire sales" and that prices risk more accurately, we ask, can industry provide the leadership needed to ensure that credit crises don'​t persist? Or will regulators need to step in and play a firmer role to discipline dealers that borrow short-​term from money market fund lenders and draw on the intraday credit provided by clearing banks? Tell us what you think."

ICI'​s latest "​Money Market Mutual Fund Assets" says, "Total money market mutual fund assets decreased by $​1.​06 billion to $​2.​705 trillion for the week ending Wednesday, February 5, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Taxable government funds decreased by $​160 million, taxable non-​government funds decreased by $​3.​29 billion, and tax-​exempt funds increased by $​2.​39 billion. Assets of retail money market funds increased by $​4.​93 billion to $​922.​72 billion. Taxable government money market fund assets in the retail category increased by $​940 million to $​198.​67 billion, taxable non-​government money market fund assets increased by $​3.​02 billion to $​528.​26 billion, and tax-​exempt fund assets increased by $​970 million to $​195.​80 billion.... Assets of institutional money market funds decreased by $​5.​98 billion to $​1.​782 trillion. Among institutional funds, taxable government money market fund assets decreased by $​1.​10 billion to $​757.​46 billion, taxable non-​government money market fund assets decreased by $​6.​31 billion to $​949.​21 billion, and tax-​exempt fund assets increased by $​1.​42 billion to $​75.​56 billion." Money fund assets have dropped in 4 out of 5 weeks in 2014 (​down $​14B), though the declines have been modest.

Wells Fargo'​s latest monthly "​Portfolio Manager Commentary" says in a piece entitled, "Developments in the repurchase agreement markets, "​In our August 2013 commentary, we discussed recommendations issued in June for new bank capital ratios and the unfavorable effect they were having on the repurchase agreement (​repo) markets, at least from our vantage point. In an attempt to rein in balance sheet leverage, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a group of global banking authorities, recommended the supplementary leverage ratio, which required banks to hold additional capital on a non-​risk-​adjusted basis. Unlike the Tier 1 risk-​adjusted capital ratio, the total leverage exposure calculation of assets did not give weighting to risk, so all assets received the same weighting.... The June proposal for what was to be included in a bank'​s assets for purposes of calculating the supplementary leverage ratio would have disregarded this accounting convention and presented the asset (​reverse repo) and the liability (​repo) on a gross basis, thus increasing the denominator for the purposes of this calculation. Rather than raise capital against a relatively low-​margin book of business, the banks chose instead to shrink their low margin assets, including repos. This had significant implications for the repo market: After being fairly stable throughout 2012, the repo market shrank from $​2.​7 trillion at the end of 2012 to $​2.​2 trillion a year later, with most of the drop occurring in the last part of 2013, after the announcement of the Basel III recommendations in June. On January 12, 2014, the Basel Committee issued revised recommendations that addressed some of the concerns of market participants, including two changes that might benefit the money markets. Once again, netting of repo and reverse repo transactions will be allowed under certain circumstances, and off-​balance-​sheet items being brought on balance sheet for the purposes of the supplementary leverage ratio calculation may receive different risk weightings. These changes should benefit the lower risk, lower return businesses such as repo and government securities dealing. Not all is golden, however. These are recommendations of the Basel Committee, but U.​S. banking regulators may yet choose to adopt more stringent standards for U.​S. banks. Banking regulators see the availability of cheap wholesale funding as one of the root causes of the recent financial crisis, and repo is at the heart of the wholesale funding market."

The Financial Times writes "​Europe money market funds hit by heavy outflows". It says, "European money market funds have recorded their highest annual net outflows since 2010 as record low interest rates encouraged investors to put their cash into higher yielding assets such as bonds and equities. The funds, which control about E1tn in assets, saw net outflows nearly double last year to E69.​2bn, the highest figure since E158.​7bn was pulled out by investors in 2010, according to figures from Fitch, the rating agency.... The money market industry faces stiff challenges on the regulatory front, according to analysts. Under European regulators' proposals some funds could be forced to hold capital buffers equivalent to three per cent of assets. Critics say the regulation could all but wipe out returns, but regulators insist it will prevent a run on funds in future financial crises by giving investors more security."

A statement entitled, "At Bipartisan Policy Center, Secretary Lew Urges Quick Action on Debt Limit," says, "Secretary Jacob J. Lew delivered remarks today at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington where he discussed the urgent need for Congress to extend the nation'​s borrowing authority. Raising the debt limit would allow Treasury to pay bills that Congresses and Presidents of both parties have already approved, and the Secretary noted that delaying action "​can cause harm to our economy, rattle financial markets, and hurt taxpayers." During his remarks, Secretary Lew explained that the time for Congress to act is short: Last year, Congress passed a temporary suspension of the debt limit that lasts only through February 7, which is the end of this week. After that, in the absence of Congressional action, Treasury will be forced to use extraordinary measures to continue to finance the government.... Now, unlike other recent periods when we have had to use extraordinary measures to continue financing the government, this time these measures will give us only a brief span of time before we run out of borrowing authority.... We now forecast that we are likely to exhaust these measures by the end of this month."

On Friday, Crane Data introduced a new "Holdings Reports Issuer Module" for subscribers to our premium Money Fund Wisdom product. The "​beta" version of the new "Issuer Module" allows users (​you need the "​Slicer" and a more recent Excel version) to choose a number of money market securities "​Issuers" and to display a report with all the money market mutual funds that hold those names (​with amounts). Click on one of the "​Issuers" tabs, hold down the "​Ctrl" key and click on more Issuers to select multiple holdings. (​Note: This is still Dec. 31, 2013, data; our Jan. 31 data will be out on Feb. 10-​11.) This file is also now available under our latest "​Money Fund Portfolio Holdings" file listings at http://​cranedata.​com/​publications/​money-​fund-​portfolio-​holdings/​details/​2014-​1-​1/. The Issuer Module file will be available with future updates via the www.​cranedata.​com "​Content" area each month following the publication of our Money Fund Portfolio Holdings "​Reports & Pivot Tables" data. The new Issuer Module also includes the full "​HoldingsList" tab (​the "​stacked" file) as well and allows reports by Country, Fund Family, and Fund too. We built this based on a customer request, so please let us know if you'​d like a brief demo, or if you have any feedback, questions or requests.

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