Letter to Editor: Treasurer Rutherford Reacts to Market Drop

The Illinois Treasurer’s Office watched the markets closely today, and will continue to watch the markets closely again tomorrow for fluctuations based on actions in other countries.

We believe what happened on Wall Street today began with a slight general uncertainty because of the debt ceiling debate, and was aggravated by concerns of economic and structural weakness in Europe. That, in turn, led to increased purchases in U.S. treasuries and the lowered yields which we anticipated.

My senior investment team and I continue to have twice-daily briefings on the markets and their impact on the Illinois treasury. To this point, our normal course of action has been appropriate.

As I explained a week ago, if necessary, we will move money from investments that are coming due into non-interest bearing, safe, FDIC-insured transaction accounts. While we might not gain interest if that happens, the treasury will be secure.

-Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford