INSTANT VIEW: U.S. sets money market mutual fund plan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Friday announced that it would make up to $50 billion available to bolster money market mutual funds, the latest in a series of radical moves to restore confidence to sagging U.S. markets.

U.S. stock index futures hit session highs after the plan was announced and U.S. Treasury bill rates soared.

The following is reaction from industry analysts and investors:

BORIS SCHLOSSBERG, DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH AT GFT FOREX IN NEW YORK

"It's all part of the program to restore confidence in financial markets. They are absolutely petrified of just a run on financial assets and they came very close to that on Thursday. At this point they have just decided that fiscal responsibility goes out the door and anything and everything that needs to be shored up financially will be done so in order to alleviate the panic. It seems to be working...risk aversion for the time being has been stemmed."

WARD MCCARTHY, MANAGING DIRECTOR WITH STONE & MCCARTHY RESEARCH ASSOCIATES, IN PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY

"They are pulling out all the stops here to nip the panic that was obvious this week in the bud. What I expect as an immediate response, and it is already happening, is that safe haven flows will get sucked right out of the Treasury market. We will probably see Treasury bill yields migrate back up to more normal levels."

"They are doing everything they can to infuse the markets with confidence."

WESTON BOONE, VICE PRESIDENT OF LISTED TRADE, STIFEL NICOLAUS CAPITAL MARKETS, BALTIMORE

"We've had skyrocketing funding costs, interbank lending has dried up and there's been a run on money markets that's led to stress in the commercial paper market. So this move doesn't surprise me. It's all part of the historical intervention that's going on. The authorities are trying to address the systematic risk now."

"It is probably a testament to how bad things really are when you look beneath the hood. The markets are frozen. Stocks will go straight up on this, and in the near term, I don't see anything to spark a sell-off. The financials will shoot up, but most will filter through to the broader market."

DAVID KOTOK, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, CUMBERLAND ADVISORS IN VINELAND, NEW JERSEY

"Like it or not, we're going to get it. Massive government intervention is re-writing the financial markets playbook."

(Reporting by Vikram Subhedar, John Parry, Lucia Mutikani and Steve Johnson)