Treasury To Guarantee Money Market Mutual Funds

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department says it will tap into a Depression-era fund to provide guarantees for the nation's money market mutual funds.

Seeking to deal with a severe financial crisis, the department said today that for the next year the U.S. Treasury will insure the holdings of eligible money market mutual funds.

The money to insure the mutual funds will come from the Treasury Department's Exchange Stabilization Fund which was created in 1934, during the Depression, to provide support for the dollar.