Lately the status of the commercial paper programs as a safe heaven has eroded, as the CP-markets have frozen (see slide 6). Outstanding amounts of asset backed commercial papers took a significant dive at the outset of the turbulence in 2007 (see slide 7). Recently the outstandings of commercial papers for financial issuers have been declining.
Note however that the latest data does not reflect the impact of the Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF) provided by the Federal Reserve. Credit risk and issuance terms The increased price of liquidity has been followed by an increase in of the price of credit.