NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch-rated U.S. money market funds (MMFs) hold an estimated $234.9 billion, or about 37% of total assets in exposures to the U.S. government via holdings of U.S. Treasury (UST) and government agency securities as well as reverse repurchase agreements (repos) that are collateralized by such securities. In addition, U.S. dollar-denominated offshore MMFs hold a further $46 billion of exposures, of which $26 billion is via repos.
The U.S. Treasury has said that available funds could run out as early as October 17th, absent a debt ceiling increase. Fitch Ratings continues to believe that an agreement will ultimately be reached to end the current political impasse in order to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and avoid a 'technical' default. Nonetheless, it's worth exploring the potential ramifications for U.S. dollar-denominated MMFs should the U.S. government fail to make timely payments on some portion of its debt obligations
Fitch believes the overall risk to MMFs due to a U.S. default to be low. Mark-to-market declines on U.S. government exposures are probably manageable assuming any default is short lived and absent significant redemption activity. In part, this view reflects MMFs' low weighted average maturities and high amounts of short-term liquidity available to meet redemptions.
Importantly, MMFs would not be required to sell U.S. Treasury securities in the event of a technical short-term default under Rule 2a-7 of the 1940 Investment Act and under Fitch's MMF rating criteria. Thus, any liquidity pressures would more likely arise from increased redemption activity. So far there is no evidence that investors are taking money out of U.S. MMFs, although this might change as the deadline to raise the debt ceiling nears. U.S. MMFs experienced net outflows of $8.5 billion last week, or roughly 0.3% of the industry's $2.694 trillion in assets under management, after mostly rising for several months. In particular, U.S. government MMF assets were flat, while prime MMFs saw outflows of $11.3 billion, and municipal MMFs gained $2.8 billion.
Some of the liquidity MMFs hold, however, is in the form of maturing UST securities and/or short-term repos secured by USTs that help MMFs meet overnight and one-week liquidity requirements. Fitch-rated U.S. MMFs hold $98.4 billion of repos secured by U.S. government securities. Many MMFs rely in part on short-term repos and to a lesser extent direct U.S. Treasury securities as a source of liquidity. A material disruption of the UST-backed repo market would be a credit negative given its size, interconnectedness and importance to MMFs.
That said, liquidity levels at prime funds appear reasonably solid, even after stripping out UST-backed repo and maturing UST securities. Based on August month-end data, Fitch-rated prime MMF portfolios held 26% of their assets in positions maturing in one-week or less (one-week liquidity), excluding government securities and repos backed by government securities.
Some government MMFs only invest directly in UST securities and, therefore, are more reliant on a liquid, well-functioning market in order to meet redemptions. If government MMFs were to face heavy outflows, a failure by the U.S. government to rollover maturing UST securities would have a liquidity impact and require the funds to sell longer-dated securities. MMFs with heavy exposure to UST securities maturing in October and early November could be pressured in the face of heavy redemption activity. Fitch understands that many MMF managers have shifted out of US Treasury securities maturing in October that could be most at risk to a debt ceiling impasse.
Fitch's rating criteria for MMFs would not require funds to sell UST securities that are in a short-term 'technical' default, provided that payment is expected to be received imminently, and that the MMF has sufficient liquidity to meet redemptions even when excluding the defaulted UST securities. However, a longer-term impasse could put pressure on of the ability of some MMFs to meet timely redemptions and maintain preservation of capital, consistent with Fitch's rating criteria for MMFs, which could have negative rating implications.
As events unfold over the next two weeks, Fitch will continue to dialogue with managers of rated MMFs to understand their net inflows/outflows, underlying liquidity positions and contingency risk management plans, as well as the reaction of broader markets to the debt ceiling negotiations. Fitch published a report in July 2011, leading up to the last U.S. debt ceiling standoff.
For more information see Money market Funds: What a U.S. Default Would Mean, July 18, 2011 at www.fitchratings.com.
Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'.
ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE.