Here's an interesting description of that day. Heh. Was a scary ****ing day.
http://www.fa-mag.com/news/five-year...off-15412.html
“Never has the ground under my feet felt as shaky as it did on September 16, 2008, when I received a call on my office phone telling me the Reserve Primary Fund – a money market fund – had broken the buck and indefinitely suspended redemptions of its shares. That meant investors could not withdraw their money. That day, and the days that followed, were marked by chaos and confusion as hundreds of thousands of panicked clients called their advisors.”
— Stewardship: Lessons Learned from the Lost Culture of Wall Street
Here's another
https://www.thebalance.com/reserve-primary-fund-3305671
The next day was the closest the United States ever came to an economic collapse. On September 17, 2008, investors withdrew a record $144.5 billion from money market accounts. They had always been the safest of investments. That's where companies, sovereign wealth funds, and even retirees keep their cash. During a typical week, only about $7 billion is withdrawn.
Panicked investors were moving the funds to U.S. Treasuries. That forced yields to drop below zero. In other words, investors were so panicked that they no longer cared if they got any return on their investment. They just didn't want to lose capital.