Deborah Cunningham, who manages Federated Investors’ U.S. and euro money market funds, said markets will have to wait until some six to eight weeks into the new year before European banks release their latest earnings, which could reveal some new fallout from exposure to the global credit crunch. Unlike the quarterly reporting schedule in the United States,  many European banks report every six months.

That could help keep the Libor, or the London interbank offered rate, the main short-term borrowing rate in Europe, high into the first quarter, said Cunningham, who was speaking at Reuters Investment Outlook 2008 Summit in New York on Monday. A higher rate reflects a tendency toward risk aversion.

“Until there is a lot of year end of reporting, that rate (the spread of Libor over the U.S. fed funds target rate) will stay wide,” Cunningham said.