Bonds Flashcards
(45 cards)
Coupon Rate
fixed rate of the bond that pays a percentage of the bond’s par value annually.
Yield Curve
a graph representing the term structure of interest rates, with the term to maturity on the horizontal axis and the yield on the vertical axis. It changes as market expectations of interest rates change.
Yield to Maturity
the discount rate that makes the present value of the coupon and principal payments equal to the price of the bond.
Par Value
The amount paid at maturity; usually $1000.
Duration/Maturity
How long, from issuance, the bond will pay coupons and finally pay par value to the bond owner.
Credit Rating Indexes
Standard & Poor, Moody, Fitch, and DBRS (Bloomberg)
Two largest bond markets and their fraction of the market?
Treasuries: 35%
Corporates: 25%
Three kinds of Bonds and what that means about their price.
Premium: price > $1000
At Par: price = $1000
Discount: price < $1000
Relationship of Bond Prices to Interest Rates?
Inverse.
Only “riskless” investment?
Treasuries.
Three kinds of Treasuries and their durations.
T-bill: less than a year.
T-note: 2,3,5 or 10 years.
T-Bond: 10-30 years.
Political Risk
Debt ceiling standoff.
Interest Rate Risk.
risk that interest rates will hike and slash bond prices; present in all bonds.
Inflation Risk
closely tied to interest rate risk; risk that inflation and high interest rates will slash bond price.
Reinvestment Risk
risk that coupons reinvested will fall; this risk is greater during longer holding periods.
Call Risk
risk of bond being called before maturity and you miss out on possible gains.
Liquidity Risk
risk that your bond does not trade often enough and therefore is not very liquid.
Risk Risk
not knowing where the risk is.
Benefits to Treasuries
- Highly liquid
- Enormous trading volume
- Narrow Spreads
- Efficient
- Highly Regulated
- Noncallable
- bought directly from government
Short Term Floating Rate Notes (FRNs)
pay quarterly and reset interest rate after each payment; fairly new.
Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS)
- principal value rises as inflation rises
- coupon rate is fixed and not changing with inflation
- move a lot with interest rate and inflation rate movements
Causes of Inflation
- Commodity Pricing
- Medicare Expense
- Tuition
- Government Spending
- Wage Inflation
- Government Regulation
STRIPS
issued by investment banking firms. Strip cash flows from each payment and the principal. Good for parents funding college. Good for staggered payments.
Agency Bonds and Government Sponsored Enterprise.
assumed that there is guarantee cus they think gov will back them if the enterprise goes upside down. Have pretty good credit (in the As).