Bonds Investing
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Getting a Handle on the Bond Market
An overview of how the bond market works: who sets bond prices, where to find a bond broker, and what a callable bond is.
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Why Bond Prices Go Up and Down
The factors that affect the price of a bond and how to protect yourself against bond fluctuations.
Bonds Investing Know-How
Climbing the Ladder: How to Manage Risk in Your Bond Portfolio
The stock market crash of October 1987 was highly dramatized in the media. But during that year, more money was lost in long-term bonds and bond funds than in stocks.Interest rates fluctuated widely throughout the year, then rose dramatically by the end of that year. This caused the bond market to lose significant value.
Why?
When interest rates rise, market values of existing bonds drop because their interest rates are fixed and the present value of the bond's stream of interest payments fluctuates. These factors caused investors to panic and sell their bond funds, leaving fund managers with no choice but...
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Offbeat Offerings: Mortgage-Backed Securities
The current housing market decline, increasing mortgage defaults and the financial struggles at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have shined a spotlight on a particular fixed-income product that is often not particularly well-understood by individual investors—mortgage-backed securities.
What are these products?
Mortgage-backed securities are bonds that are backed by a pool of home mortgages. Investors receive proportionate shares of the interest and principal generated by the underlying...
Bonds Investing Articles
- I Savings Bonds
- Where Credit Is Due: A Look at the Ratings
- How to Buy Individual Bonds: A Fixed-Income Toolkit
- Offbeat Offerings: Mortgage-Backed Securities
- Offbeat Offerings: Credit Union CDs
- Laddered Bond Portfolios
- Convertible Bonds
