The recent banking industry turmoil has increased the risks to financial stability; the IMF has warned, as investors seeking safety pile hundreds of billions of dollars into money market funds. IMF's managing director Kristalina Georgieva said, «Risks to financial stability have increased at a time of higher debt levels,». «The rapid transition from a prolonged period of low-interest rates to much higher rates necessary to fight inflation inevitably generates stresses and vulnerabilities, as we have seen in recent developments in the banking sector». That makes it the biggest month of inflows since the depths of the Covid-19 crisis.
The surge helped push overall assets in money funds to a record $5.1tn last week, according to research from Bank of America. Goldman's US funds had taken in nearly $52bn, a 13 per cent increase, since March 9, the day before SVB was taken over by US authorities. JP Morgan's funds received nearly $46bn, and Fidelity recorded inflows of almost $37bn, according to iMoneyNet data as of Friday. Money market funds typically hold very low-risk assets that are easy to buy and sell, including short-dated US government debt.
The pace of inflows has particularly increased from large depositors looking for safe havens.
Data from the Investment Company Institute showed that the money is flowing specifically into funds that hold US government debt, which are considered the safest destinations. Neel Kashkari, president of the Minneapolis Fed, said yesterday that the banking sector stress «brings the US closer to a recession» but it was «not clear whether there will be a widespread credit crunch that would slow down the economy».
Even if the US economy is slowed down this won't last long and won't be as bad as it is in other countries. The US economy is very strong and it always comes back fighting and does it quickly. So even if the US will enter a recession in the next 6-12 months it will still do better than most places.
ReplyDelete