The March issue of Crane Data's Money Fund Intelligence newsletter goes out this morning (along with our MFI XLS, Crane Index and other monthly performance ranking products). The latest issue features the articles: "Final MMF Reforms Out: Funds Await Next Steps," "Looking for a Legg Up: The New Western Asset," and "Quotes on the Business of Money Market Funds." The monthly "News" also discusses the Crane Money Fund Indexes hitting new record lows, and asset outflows continuing from money funds. Money Fund Intelligence also features performance rankings and statistics on over 1,300 money market mutual funds.
As we've been discussing, The SEC released the full text of its final 'Money Market Fund Reform' rules last week, and the 220-page text contained no surprises. MFI recaps the new rules and discusses what might happen next. Visit the SEC's Final Rules page to see the whole text, and note that a new version, "Rule 2a-7 Amendments Adopted by SEC in February 2010 Marked to Show Changes from Previous Rule 2a-7" has been posted. (Watch for the more condensed Federal Register version to appear in coming days.)
This month, Money Fund Intelligence revisits Western Asset Management, the ninth largest money fund manager worldwide and the 10th largest in the U.S. We interview money fund veteran and Lead Liquidity Portfolio Manager Kevin Kennedy, and Head of New York Operations & Client Service/Marketing Michael Van Raaphorst. Look for excerpts from our "profile" in coming days, or e-mail info@cranedata.us for the latest issue.
Our Crane Money Fund Indexes continue to set record lows, though help from the ultra-low yields may soon be on the way in the form of slightly higher Treasury and repo rates. The Crane 100 Index, an average of the 100 largest taxable money funds, had a record-low 7-day yield of 0.04% as of Feb. 28. The Crane 100 had a 30-day yield of 0.05% as of month-end, and a 1-year return of 0.19% through 2/28/10. Our broader Crane Money Fund Average yielded a mere 0.02% (7-day annualized) and 0.03% (30-day), respectively, at month-end.
