USA Today writes "Money market funds are yielding almost nothing", which says, "Money isn't everything, at least to investors in money market funds. Yields are at all-time lows, and nearly a quarter of funds yield nothing at all." (Our Crane 100 Money Fund Index reached yet another record low yesterday, an annualized 7-day yield of 0.14%.) The piece quotes Peter Crane, editor of newsletter Money Fund Intelligence, "They're taking more of the funds' yield to pay expenses than to pay investors." USA Today says, "Some $27.5 billion fled money funds the week ended Aug. 5, says the Investment Company Institute, a fund industry trade group. Some of that money is going to banks, which can offer any rate they want. The average one-year bank CD, for example, yields 1.88%. But investors apparently feel that moving to a bank account is too much hassle for too little return. Assets in money funds have fallen to $3.6 trillion from $3.8 trillion at the end of 2008. Yet that's still nearly $500 billion more than at the start of 2008. Many fund companies would welcome an exodus from money funds. Investors typically move money to another fund in the fund family, and most funds charge higher expenses than money funds, Crane says." See also, `Kiplinger's "Banks Trounce Money-Market Funds".
