Chapter 9

The Money Markets

 Now that’s a lot!
In its 2006 annual report, Microsoft listed $27
billion in short-term securities on its balance
sheet. This is essentially cash, but Microsoft
does not keep this in its local bank. But
where?

This is, of course, this topic of chapter 9 –

Money Markets.

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 Chapter Preview
• We review the money markets and the securities
that are traded there. In addition, we discuss
why the money markets are important in our
financial system. Topics include:
– The Money Markets Defined
– The Purpose of Money Markets
– Who Participates in Money Markets?
– Money Market Instruments
– Comparing Money Market Securities

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The Money Markets Defined
The term “money market” is a misnomer.
Money (currency) is not actually traded in
the money markets. The securities in the
money market are short term with high
liquidity; therefore, they are close to
being money.

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 The Money Markets Defined
Money Markets Defined: (features/ characteristics)
Large denominations: Money market securities
are usually sold in large denominations
($1,000,000 or more)
Low default rate: They have low default risk
Low maturity period: They mature in one year or
less from their issue date
High liquidity: Less maturity period confirms
conversion of the security to cash within short
period
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 The Money Markets Defined:
Why Do We Need Money Markets?
In theory, the banking industry should handle
the needs for short-term loans and accept
short-term deposits. Banks also have an
information advantage on the credit-
worthiness of participants.
Banks do mediate between savers and
borrowers; however, they are heavily
regulated. This creates a distinct cost
advantage for money markets over banks.

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 The Money Markets Defined:
Cost Advantages
• Reserve requirements create additional expense
for banks that money markets do not have
• Regulations on the level of interest banks could
offer depositors lead to a significant growth in
money markets, especially in the 1970s and
1980s. When interest rates rose, depositors
moved their money from banks to money
markets to earn a higher interest rate.

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 The Money Markets Defined:
Cost Advantages
• Even today, the cost structure of banks limits
their competitiveness to situations where their
informational advantages outweighs their
regulatory costs.
• Figure 1 shows that limits on interest banks
could offer was not relevant until the 1950s.
But in the decades that followed, the problem
became apparent.

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3-month T-bill rates and
Interest Rate Ceilings

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 The Purpose of Money Markets

• Investors in Money Market: Provides a

place for warehousing surplus funds for
short periods of time
• Borrowers from money market provide
low-cost source of temporary funds

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 The Purpose of Money Markets

• Corporations and government use these

markets because the timing of cash
inflows and outflows are not well
synchronized. Money markets provide a
way to solve these cash-timing problems.

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 Who Participates
in the Money Markets?
• We will discuss, in turn, each of the
major borrowers and lenders in the
money market.
• Before we do that, let’s examine some of
the current rates offered in the U.S. money
markets. Some of these rates have been
discussed in previous chapters. Other
rates will be explored throughout
this chapter.
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Who Participates in the Money Markets?: A
Sample from the Wall Street Journal

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Who Participates in the Money Markets?
 Money Market Instruments
• We will examine each of these in the following
slides:
– Treasury Bills
– Repurchase Agreements
– Negotiable Certificates of Deposit
– Commercial Paper
– Banker’s Acceptance
– Eurodollars
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 Money Market Instruments:

Treasury Bills
• T-bills have 28-day maturities through 12-
month maturities.

• Discounting: When an investor pays less for

the security than it will be worth when it
matures, and the increase in price provides a
return. This is common to short-term securities
because they often mature before the issuer
can mail out interest checks.
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 Money Market Instruments:
Treasury Bills Discounting Example
• You pay $996.37 for a 28-day T-bill. It is
worth $1,000 at maturity. What is its discount
rate?

idiscount= F−Px360 (1)

F n
idiscount=1,000− 996
.73 360
x =4.665%
1,000 28
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 Money Market Instruments:
Treasury Bills Discounting Example
• You pay $996.37 for a 28-day T-bill. It is worth
$1,000 at maturity. What is its annualized
yield?

iyt = F−P 365 (1)

P n

iyt =1, −
000 996.73 366
x =4.76%
996.37 28
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 Money Market Instruments:

Re-purchase Agreements
• These work similar to the market for fed funds,
but nonbanks can participate.

• A firm sells Treasury securities, but agrees to

buy them back at a certain date (usually 3–14
days later) for a certain price.

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 Money Market Instruments:
Repurchase Agreements
• This set-up makes a repo agreements
essentially a short-term collateralized loan.
• This is one market the Fed may use to
conduct its monetary policy, whereby the
Fed purchases/sells Treasury securities in
the repo market.

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 Money Market Instruments:
Negotiable Certificates of Deposit
• A bank-issued security that documents a
deposit and specifies the interest rate and
the maturity date
• Denominations range from $100,000
to $10 million
CDs

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 Money Market Instruments:
Negotiable Certificates of Deposit
The next slide shows actual CD rates and
T-bill rates 1990 through 2007.
Again, notice that the two rates track
fairly closely. What does this suggest
about the market for T-bills and the
market for CDs?

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Money Market Instruments:
Negotiable CD Rates

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 Money Market Instruments:
Commercial Paper
• Unsecured promissory notes, issued by
corporations, that mature in no more than
270 days.
• The use of commercial paper increased
significantly in the early 1980s because of
the rising cost of bank loans.

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 Money Market Instruments:
Commercial Paper
The next slide shows actual commercial
paper rates and the prime rates 1990
through 2007.
Although the two track closely in terms of
movements, notice that difference
between the two remains roughly 200
basis points.

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Money Market Instruments:
Commercial Paper Rates

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 Money Market Instruments:
Commercial Paper
The next slide shows actual commercial
paper volume by year from 1990
through 2006.
Notice that the volume has only begun to
fall during the recent economic recession
in the economy. Even so, the annual
market is still quite large, at well over $1
trillion outstanding.
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Money Market Instruments:
Commercial Paper Volume

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 Money Market Instruments:
Banker’s Acceptances
• An order to pay a specified amount
to the bearer on a given date if specified
conditions have been met, usually delivery
of promised goods.
• These are often used when buyers /
sellers of expensive goods live in different
co untries.

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 Money Market Instruments:
Banker’s Acceptances Advantages
Steps use in Banker Acceptances
1. Exporter paid immediately
2. Exporter shielded from foreign
exchange risk
3. Exporter does not have to assess the
financial security of the importer
4. Importer’s bank guarantees payment
5. Crucial to international trade
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 Money Market Instruments:
Banker’s Acceptances
• As seen, banker’s acceptances avoid the
need to establish the credit-worthiness of
a customer living abroad.
• There is also an active secondary market
for banker’s acceptances until they mature.
The terms of note indicate that the bearer,
whoever that is, will be paid upon maturity.

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 Money Market Instruments:
Eurodollars
• Eurodollars represent Dollar denominated
deposits held in foreign banks.
• The market is essential since many foreign
contracts call for payment is U.S. dollars
due to the stability of the dollar, relative to
other currencies.

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 Money Market Instruments:
Eurodollars
• The Eurodollar market has continued to grow
rapidly because depositors receive a higher rate
of return on a dollar deposit in the Eurodollar
market than in the domestic market.
• Multinational banks are not subject to the same
regulations restricting U.S. banks and because
they are willing to accept narrower spreads
between the interest paid on deposits and the
interest earned on loans.

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 Money Market Instruments:
Eurodollars Rates
• London interbank bid rate (LIBID)
– The rate paid by banks buying funds

• London interbank offer rate (LIBOR)

– The rate offered for sale of the funds

• Time deposits with fixed maturities

– Largest short term security in the world

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 Global: Birth of the Eurodollar
• The Eurodollar market is one of the most
important financial markets, but oddly
enough, it was fathered by the Soviet Union.
• In the 1950s, the USSR had accumulated
large dollar deposits, but all were in US
banks. They feared the US might seize
them, but still wanted dollars. So, the USSR
transferred the dollars to European banks,
creating the Eurodollar market.
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 Comparing Money Market
Securities
• The next slide shows a comparison of
various money market rates from 1990
through 2007.
• Notice that no real pattern is present
among the rates, indicating that investor
preferences to the features on the
instruments fluctuates.

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 Comparing Money Market
Securities : A comparison of rates

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 Comparing Money Market
Securities
• The next slide summarizes the types of
securities, issuers, buyers, maturity, and
secondary market characteristics.

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Comparing Money Market Securities:
Money Market Securities and Their
Depth

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 Chapter Summary
• The Money Markets Defined
– Short-term instruments
– Most have a low default probability
• The Purpose of Money Markets
– Used to “warehouse” funds
– Returns are low because of low risk and
high liquidity

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 Chapter Summary (cont.)
• Who Participates in Money Markets?
– U.S. Treasury
– Commercial banks
– Businesses
– Individuals (through mutual funds)

• Money Market Instruments

– Include T-bills, fed funds, etc.

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 Chapter Summary (cont.)
• Comparing Money Market Securities
– Issuers range from the US government to
banks to large corporations
– Mature in as little as 1 day to as long as 1
year
– The secondary market liquidity
varies substantially

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