Treasury bills, commercial paper, some medium-term notes, bankers acceptances, federal agency discount paper, most certificates of deposit, repurchase agreements, floating-rate agreements, and federal funds. The scope of the money market has expanded in recent years to include securitized products such mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities with short average lives. These securities, along with the derivative contracts associated with them, are the subject of this book.

The workings of the money market are largely invisible to the average retail investor. The reason is that the money market is the province of relatively large financial institutions and corporations. Namely, large borrowers (e.g., U.S. Treasury, agencies, money center banks, etc.) seeking short-term funding as well as large institutional investors with excess cash willing to supply funds short-term. Typically, the only contact retail investors have with the money market is through money market mutual funds, known as unit trusts in the United Kingdom and Europe.