The news that French bank BNP Paribas suspended three of its funds due to U.S. sub-prime exposure sent the Dow down 387 points to close at 13,270.68.

Publicly traded money managers were not immune to chaos that gripped the market, all closed down at least 0.4 percent.

Some lost much more than others, with T. Rowe losing 6.9 percent, AllianceBerstein losing 7.7 percent, Janus down 7.6 percent, Federated down 7.5 percent, AMG down 7 percent, and SEI losing 8.4 percent. The biggest dip belonged to GAMCO, which was down 9 percent.

For its part, US Global Investors was down .4 percent.

There is a rumor in the market that money market mutual funds may have been exposed to the sub-prime contagion. However, Peter Crane, president and CEO of Crane Data, said this is a clear overreaction.

"There is a lot of turbulence in general in the market, it's still to early to tell (if it's caused by sub-prime). I doubt there will be a serious loss event," Crane told the MFWire

Crane added that some money market funds may indirectly hold sub-prime investments but by law can only invest in first-tier securities.

Money market mutual funds had $2.7 trillion in assets as of this week, according to ICI data. 

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