18 September 2008

Money Market Funds Freeze

This is why money is fleeing into treasuries because stuff that is supposed to be as good as cash is freexing up, and people cannot get their money.

So we had a Bank of New York Mellon Corp institutional money market fund just fell below $1/share, meaning you can't get all your money out, and the $15 billion Putnam Prime Money Market Fund money market fund just shut down, because of "redemption pressures", i.e. a run on the bank.

If that weren't scary enough, The Reserve's Primary Fund is also below par, and includes retail as well as institutional investors:
Reserve Primary has both institutional and retail accounts. "This appears to be the first case where a retail investor will lose money in a money market fund." said Peter Crane, president of market research firm Crane Data in Westborough, Mass., though he called the situation "an anomaly."
My investment advice: Buy stocks in safes, because people won't be trusting banks much longer.

0 comments :

Post a Comment