Money-market outflows $19.54 bln in latest week

Money-market outflows $19.54 bln in latest week
4 April 2012, by Nathalie Tadena (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/money-market-outflows-1954-bln-in-latest-week-2012-04-04

Assets in money-market funds fell by $19.54 billion in the latest week led by sharp outflows from prime funds and as investors also pulled money from government and tax-free funds, according to iMoneyNet.

Money-market funds have mostly seen outflows this year, following a brief streak of inflows in late 2011.

Concerns about the euro-zone debt crisis and a weak economic outlook in the U.S. have weighed on sentiment.

For the week ended Tuesday, total assets in money-market funds fell to $2.566 trillion, iMoneyNet said.

Its reading on the seven-day yield for taxable money-market funds was 0.03% for the ninth consecutive week.

The Federal Open Market Committee--the Federal Reserve's policy-setting panel--recently reiterated plans to keep rates at exceptionally low levels at least through late 2014.

Taxable funds had net outflows of $18.29 billion, as institutional investors withdrew $16.04 billion and individual investors pulled $2.25 billion.

Prime funds, which invest in securities such as commercial paper, had $11.11 billion in outflows.

Government funds decreased by $7.18 billion.

Tax-free funds slipped by $1.25 billion to $283.34 billion.

Yields for seven-day and 30-day tax-free funds held steady at 0.01%.