A Word on Vanguard Money Market Funds

In an encouraging sign after the news of the Reserve Primary Fund breaking the buck yesterday, Vanguard Funds came clean today on the state of their money market funds. Their release dated today on their website says:

The recent bankruptcy filing by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and widespread turbulence in the financial markets have prompted a number of questions about the impact on Vanguard funds, including money market funds.

Vanguard is confident in the stability of its money market funds, all of which are managed with the objective of maintaining a stable net asset value of $1 a share. Vanguard continues to manage its money market funds very conservatively and with extreme prudence, focusing on high quality, short-term money market instruments.

All of the investments in our money market funds are closely examined by our Fixed Income Group's highly skilled and experienced credit analysts. Analysts assess the quality of each underlying issuer through in-depth credit analysis and do not rely on agency credit ratings.

Our largest money market fund is Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund, which currently holds more than half of its assets in U.S. Treasury and federal agency securities. In addition, Prime Money Market Fund has no exposure to money market instruments issued by securities dealers, including Lehman Brothers. It also has no exposure to securities of AIG, the insurance concern that is being supported by loans from the federal government.

Holdings of Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund (as of 8/31/2008)
U.S. Treasury: 36%
U.S. Agency: 17%
Certificates of deposit: 32%
High-quality commercial paper: 14%
Repurchase agreements: 1%

Reserve Funds - Primary Money Market Fund Valued at 97 cents on the Dollar

The Reserve Funds' Primary Fund has been revalued at an NAV of $0.97. (Hat tip = CalculatedRisk) The Reserve is considered a pioneer of Money Market funds. The Reserve (Reserve Management Company, Inc.) is also the parent company of Reserve Solutions, the company that recently pioneered the marketing of 401(k) debit card loans.

The press release from The Reserve:

September 16, 2008

The Board of Trustees of The Reserve Fund, after reviewing the unprecedented market events of the past several days and their impact on The Primary Fund, a series of The Reserve Fund and taking into account recommendations made by Reserve Management Company, Inc., the investment manager of The Primary Fund, approved the following actions with respect to The Primary Fund only:

The value of the debt securities issued by Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. (face value $785 million) and held by the Primary Fund has been valued at zero effective as of 4:00PM New York time today. As a result, the NAV of the Primary Fund, effective as of 4:00PM, is $0.97 per share. All redemption requests received prior to 3:00PM today will be redeemed at a net asset value of $1.00 per share.

Effective today and until further notice, the proceeds of redemptions from The Primary Fund will not be transmitted to the redeeming investor for a period of up to seven calendar days after the redemption. The seven-day redemption delay will not apply to debit card transactions, ACH transactions or checks written against the assets of the Primary Fund provided that any such transaction from an investor, individually or in the aggregate, does not exceed $10,000. The Primary Fund will continue to accept purchase orders.

Effective tomorrow, September 17, 2008, the NAV for the Primary Fund will be
calculated once a day at 5:00PM, New York time.

...Another Lehman casualty.

PIMCO, Vanguard Funds Hit By Lehman Bankruptcy

John Glover of Bloomberg News reports: "Pimco, Vanguard Are Biggest Lehman Bond Fund Losers."

Pimco Advisors LP, Vanguard Group Inc. and Franklin Advisers Inc. are among investment companies that may face losses of at least $86 billion stemming from the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the biggest bankruptcy in history.

"Disaster for Public Confidence"

"The losses look set to be widespread, hurting the public through their mutual and pension funds,'' said Ciaran O'Hagan, a credit strategist at Societe Generale SA in Paris. ``It's clearly a disaster for public confidence.''

Pimco holds Lehman bonds in at least 12 of its funds, including the $134 billion Total Return Fund. Bill Gross, manager of the fund and co-chief investment officer of Pimco, was buying Lehman bonds as recently as June, Bloomberg data show.

...

While Gross may have lost on Lehman investments, he gained from those in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. His Total Return Fund made a $1.7 billion gain after the U.S. government seized control of the two mortgage-finance companies, Bloomberg data show. The fund's assets rose 1.3 percent to more than $134 billion on Sept. 8, according to Bloomberg. It has returned 4.19 percent this year, beating 98 percent of similar funds, Bloomberg data show.

Vanguard holds Lehman bonds among the $450 billion of fixed income it manages, spokesman John Woerth said. An outside spokeswoman for Pimco in London, who asked not to be named, said the company had no immediate comment, Lisa Gallegos, a spokeswoman for Franklin in San Mateo, California, wasn't immediately available.

AXA, Fidelity and Legg Mason have not been spared on the equity side either:

Axa SA, Europe's second-biggest insurer, and unnamed affiliates, own 7.25 percent of Lehman's equity, according to the filing. Clearbridge Advisers LLC, the asset manager that Baltimore-based Legg Mason Inc. acquired from Citigroup Inc. in 2005, held 6.33 percent, according to the filing. Boston-based FMR LLC, the parent of Fidelity, the world's largest mutual fund company, held 5.9 percent, the filing said.