Fitch: Money Market Funds Embrace U.S. Treasury's Temporary Guarantee Program

Business Wire, Oct 6, 2008

NEW YORK -- The U.S. Treasury's introduction of the $50 billion Temporary Guarantee Program for Money Market Funds on Sept. 29, 2008, was followed almost immediately by the announced enrollment in the program of the overwhelming majority of Fitch-rated prime money market funds registered under rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act of 1940. From a rating perspective, Fitch views the introduction of the Temporary Guarantee Program positively, as it mitigates a number of liquidity and asset pricing pressures facing prime money market funds. Fitch-rated funds to enroll or announce their intention to participate include those managed by:

--Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC;

--BlackRock;

--Dreyfus Corporation;

--Evergreen Investments;

--FAF Advisors;

--Federated Investment Management Co.;

--Fidelity Management & Research;

--Goldman Sachs Asset Management, LP;

--Invesco Aim Advisors, Inc.;

--JPMorgan Investment Management;

--Morgan Stanley Investment Management;

--Virtus Investment Partners (formerly Phoenix Investment Partners).

It is important to note that participation in the Treasury's Guarantee Program is on a fund-by-fund basis and investors should not assume that a specific fund is participating based on knowledge that similarly named funds (or funds managed by the same fund complex) are participating in the program. Details of the Guarantee Program are available on the U.S. Department of the Treasury web site at www.ustreas.gov. For Fitch-rated funds, Fitch will monitor and confirm execution of the related guaranty agreements as part of its ongoing surveillance and will comment as warranted.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, 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.