FirstFT: $286bn floods into money market funds

Money market funds are swelling in March as investors pull deposits from banks, according to data provider EPFR.

In total, more than $286bn has flooded into money market funds so far in March, making it the biggest month of inflows since the Covid-19 crisis, EPFR data found.

The biggest winners are Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Fidelity, with investors pouring cash into US money market funds over the past two weeks as the collapse of two regional US banks and the rescue deal for Credit Suisse raised concerns about the safety of bank deposits.

Here’s a quick breakdown: Goldman’s US money funds have taken in nearly $52bn, a 13 per cent increase, since March 9, the day before Silicon Valley Bank was taken over by US authorities; JPMorgan’s funds received nearly $46bn; and Fidelity recorded inflows of almost $37bn, according to iMoneyNet data as of Friday morning.

The surge in flows this month helped push overall assets in money funds to a record $5.1tn on Wednesday, according to research from Bank of America.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Taiwan-China visit: Former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou begins a historic 10-day visit to China today, marking the first visit by a sitting or former Taiwanese president to China.

• Finland and Nato: Hungary’s parliament will vote on whether to ratify Finland’s bid to join Nato today.

• Kamala Harris: US vice-president Kamala Harris is in Ghana for her first stop of a three-nation tour of Africa to deepen ties with the continent amid competition from China and Russia.

What did you think of today’s FirstFT? Let us know at firstft@ft.com. Thanks for reading.

Five more top stories

1. Vladimir Putin plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, marking Moscow’s latest attempt to use the threat of a nuclear war to ramp up tensions with the US and Nato over the invasion of Ukraine.

2. Netanyahu sacks defence minister over refusal to back judicial reform. The fight over the bitterly contested proposals, which would significantly weaken the powers of the judiciary, has sparked the biggest wave of protests in Israel for more than a decade and plunged the country into a deep political crisis.

3. European ammunition maker says plant expansion is facing a roadblock to the planned expansion of its largest factory because a new data centre for TikTok is using up all the spare electricity in the area.

4. Air India boss Campbell Wilson hails biggest turnround effort in the airline’s history, as he outlined ambitions to turn India into the next major aviation hub following a huge order for new planes.

5. China’s richest county suffers an export slump as US tension hits factories. Taiwanese manufacturers in Kunshan are cutting staff and wages and pushing orders abroad in response to falling exports, which had driven China’s economic growth through the pandemic.

News in depth

What does SVB’s collapse have to do with wine growers? A lot, actually. SVB’s wine division has been a critical pillar to the wine sector, loaning out more than $4bn to wineries since 1990 and publishing an annual State of the Wine Industry report. When it collapsed, SVB was sitting on $1.2bn of winery loans. Now its clients worry about where their funding will come from as they grapple with higher costs of doing business and the worsening impacts of climate change.

We’re also reading and listening to . . .

• Russia embraces renminbi: Russia has adopted the renminbi as one of the main currencies for its international reserves, in a rare example of a country adopting the renminbi over the US dollar or euro. But it poses risks for Moscow given Beijing’s history of abrupt currency devaluations.

• Opinion: “The Tip Project definitely discovered that it is un-Japanese,” writes FT Asia Business Editor Leo Lewis about the failed business venture aimed at starting tipping culture in Japan.

• The celebrity interview ????: This week, Lilah of the FT Weekend podcast compares notes on interviewing with podcaster Sam Fragoso, whose show Talk Easy features in-depth conversations with some of the biggest names in culture like Cate Blanchett, Judd Apatow, and Noam Chomsky.

Chart of the day

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Suicide among those aged between 10 and 19 years old in the US surged by 45.5 per cent between 2010 and 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While the jury is still out on an exact reason why mental health has declined among teenagers, some academics point to a growing body of research that they say is hard to ignore: that the proliferation of smartphones, high-speed internet and social media apps are rewiring children’s brains and driving an increase in eating disorders, depression and anxiety.

Take a break from the news

How did a hard-hitting version of Scotland’s default lager find a glamorous second life abroad? Tamlin Magee undertakes a liquid investigation into Italy’s love affair with Tennent’s Extra for FT Magazine’s Italy food and drink special.

Additional contributions by Tee Zhuo and Emily Goldberg