MONEY MARKETS

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1.Money market securities are debt securities with a maturity of one year or less.

2. Issued in the primary market through a telecommunications network by the Treasury, corporations, and financial intermediaries that wish to obtain short-term financing.

3.Are commonly purchased by households, corporations, and governments that have funds available for a short time period.

4.Can be sold in the secondary market and are liquid.

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The more popular money market securities are:

Treasury bills (T-bills)

Commercial paper

Negotiable certificates of deposit

Repurchase agreements

Federal funds

Banker’s acceptances

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1. Issued when the U.S. government needs to borrow funds.

2. The Treasury issues T-bills with 4-week, 13-week, and 26-week maturities on a weekly basis.

3. The par value (amount received by investors at maturity) of T-bills was historically a minimum of $10,000, but now it is $1,000 and multiples of $1,000.

4. Are sold at a discount from par value, and the gain is the difference between par value and the price paid

5. Backed by the federal government and are virtually free of credit (default) risk.

6. Highly liquid, due to short maturity and strong secondary market.4

3. Treasury Bill Auction (Exhibit 6.2)

a. Investors can submit bids online for newly issued T-bills at www.treasurydirect.gov.

b. Investors have the option of bidding competitively or noncompetitively.

c. Sold via Dutch Auction

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2. Pricing Treasury Bills

a. Priced at a discount from their par value

b. Price depends on the investor’s required rate of return

c. Value of a T-bill is the present value of the par value

Example: If investors require a 7 percent annualized return on a one-year T-bill with a $10,000 par value, the price that they are willing to pay is:

P = $10,000 / (1.07)

P = $9,345.796

4. Estimating the Yield

5. Estimating the Treasury Bill Discount

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period) (holding investment theof days ofnumber

price purchase

price selling

where

365

n

PP

SP

nPP

PPSPYT

nPP

PPParYT

360

B.Commercial Paper For most creditworthy companies - Short-term debt

instrument issued by well-known, creditworthy firms and is typically unsecured.

100 to 150 basis points less than the prime

No secondary market (mostly direct placement)

Yield computed the same way as T-Bills

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1.Ratings Assigned by rating agencies such as Moody’s

Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s Corporation, and Fitch Investor Service.

Serves as an indicator of the potential risk of default.

2.Credit Risk during the Credit Crisis Historically the percentage of issues that have

defaulted is very low. During the credit crisis on Sept 15,2008, Lehman

Brothers (a large securities firm) failed.

Reserve Primary Fund – broke the buck – “shadow banking system.”

1. Credit risk following Lehman’s default Institutional investors were less willing to invest in

commercial paper because of concerns that other firms might default. As a result, many firms were no longer able to rely on the commercial paper market for short-term funding.

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 was enacted, which helped to stabilize the money markets.

In November 2008, the Fed began to purchase commercial paper issued by highly rated firms to increase liquidity in the commercial paper market.

2. Risk Premiums among Money Market Securitiesa. During periods of heightened uncertainty, investors shift

from risky money market securities to Treasury securities in a flight to quality.

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1. If short-term interest rates increase, the required rate of return on money market securities will increase and the prices of money market securities will decrease.

2. An increase in interest rates is not as harmful to a money market security as it is to a longer term bond.

3. Measuring Interest Rate Risk

Participants in the money markets can use sensitivity analysis to determine how the value of money market securities may change in response to a change in interest rates.

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C. Negotiable Certificates of Deposit (NCD) Large dollar amount certificates designed to be

negotiable Specialized secondary market YNCD = (SP – PP + Interest) / PP.

D.Banker's Acceptances Finance import activity Products form the collateral for the BA Rates quoted in WSJ and elsewhere

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E.Repurchase Agreements (repo)

One party sells securities to another with an agreement to repurchase the securities at a specified date and price.

Underlying instrument is a treasury bill or bond Contracts designed for very short periods of investment Reverse Repo

F. Federal Funds The market for lending excess reserves, frequently over-night Some funds lent by the Federal Reserve on an over-night

basis

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Enables depository institutions to lend or borrow short-term funds from each other at the federal funds rate.

The Federal Reserve adjusts the amount of funds in depository institutions in order to influence the federal funds.

The rate is normally slightly higher than the T-bill rate at any given time.

Commercial banks are the most active participants.

The volume of interbank loans on commercial bank balance sheets over time is an indication of the importance of lending between depository institutions.

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G. Comparison of Money Market Securities Most liquid are T-Bills Best yields are from BA's Money Market funds will have all in their portfolio

H. Institutional Use of Money Market Securities Provide method for investors to keep excess cash

balances working Provide a method for limiting interest rate risk Provide an additional investment vehicle for portfolios

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Eurodollar Deposits and Euro notes Foreign deposits denominated in dollars Notes issued in European financial markets but denominated

in dollarsE

uro-commercial Paper Potential hedge vehicle Dealers provide a secondary market

Lack of Regulatory Oversight Increased risks Source of competitive edge for foreign banks

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What are the 4 main types of money market instruments?

What premiums do investors extract for reduced liquidity? Increases in default risk?

Who issues commercial paper? Why is c-paper preferred to borrowing at prime?

How does the Repurchase (repo) agreement work?

Why are Fed funds important to financial institutions?

What are Eurodollar deposits and why are they important?

Q&A: 4,8,12 Interpreting: a, b, c

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