In the News
$135b still frozen by an early ’08 debacle
As they grapple with the credit crunch, many businesses across the country have yet another cash constraint: more than $100 billion tied up in a part of the bond market that shut down last February and that isn’t going to reopen. Vicor Corp. is one of them. The Andover maker
Money-market funds flock to guarantee program
Nearly all the $3.4 trillion in money-market mutual funds is expected to be federally guaranteed for at least the next three months, now that all the major fund providers signed up to participate by a deadline that passed Wednesday. The universal participation means investors won’t have to stay up at
Six things you need to know to understand the financial crisis
Financial calamities have come in waves during the past two weeks, each one sending another jolt through the U.S. economy. These daily — sometimes hourly — developments have included continued declines in the housing market, government bailouts of troubled financial giants, and the disappearance of venerable Wall Street firms. Suddenly,
The Broken Buck Stops Here — or Does It?
WALL STREET TOLD US AUCTION-RATE SECURITIES WERE just like money-market funds but with bigger yields. They also told us money-market funds were just like cash. What’s next? The check’s in the mail? Well, sort of, but it’s from the federal government, not the Street. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Friday
Merrill’s research may slow auction-rate settlement
The legacy of Henry Blodget may haunt Merrill Lynch & Co Inc MER.N as it negotiates a settlement with regulators for the way it sold auction rate securities to investors. Blodget, you’ll recall, was a Merrill analyst who earlier became the poster boy for the excesses of the Internet era
Money market funds battered
Several money market funds are losing money as the $3.5 trillion sector that long had been considered as safe as cash is buffeted by the turmoil on Wall Street. Separately, four mutual fund firms are taking extraordinary steps to calm investor fears and protect customer investments. The companies – Wachovia
TREASURIES-Demand for safety pushes yields down
Treasuries rallied and bill rates plummeted on Wednesday as unrelenting financial market upheaval fed demand for cash and ultra-low-risk investments. Money market funds were big buyers of Treasuries as they anticipated heavy redemption by investors worried about money market funds’ exposure to securities issued by struggling insurer AIG (AIG.N), and
Freddie and Fannie Bailout Fears Mount
https://www.investors.com/freddie-and-fannie-bailout-fears-mount
Analysts shrug off Street’s proposals on systemic risk
A report issued last week by financial industry leaders calling for greater private initiatives in containing systemic risk was greeted by some analysts as being a “no-brainer.” “Changing rules in assessing your counterparty risk seems to be a no-brainer in the context of what we’ve seen happen,” said Kurt Schacht,
The Investment ‘Albatross’ at UBS
Ever since the auction-rate securities mess erupted six months ago, the same story has echoed across Wall Street. The way UBS and other banks tell it, the $330 billion market functioned for years without a hitch, providing big corporations and wealthy investors with a highly liquid alternative to cash. Then,