Money Fund Assets Top $4 Trillion

Money market fund assets have topped $4 trillion for the first time, greatly buoyed by the Treasury Department’s $1 NAV guarantees and financing to purchase asset-backed commercial paper from money funds, which has eased the credit markets. 

The government took these measures to steady investors’ nerves following the failure of Reserve Funds’ Primary Fund due to $785 million worth of Lehman Brothers exposure.

The government’s actions “provided huge amounts of confidence in a market that was sorely lacking in that,” Deborah Cunningham, a money fund manager with Federated Investors, told The Wall Street Journal.

“We’re able to invest in a more typical fashion,” agreed Robert Litterst, managed of Fidelity Cash Reserve Fund.