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BondA debt instrument, issued by a borrower and promising a specified stream of payments to the purchaser, usually regular interest payments plus a final repayment of principal. Bonds are exchanged on open markets including, in the absence of capital controls, internationally, providing a mechanism for international capital mobility.BondThe generic name for a tradable loan security issued by governments and companies as a means of raising capital.The bond guarantees its holder:repayment of capital at a future specified date (the maturity date)a fixed rate of interest (also known as the coupon)Government bonds are known as gilts or Treasury Stock.Bonds offer certainty of income, but may fail to keep pace with inflation.As far as the capital is concerned, you only know exactly how much your bond is worth if you plan to hold it to maturity (when you will be paid back the face value). But in the time between issue and maturity, a bond's value can be as volatile as a share, and if you plan to sell before maturity you run the risk of capital erosion. In general:Bond prices fall when bank interest rates go up (because the interest rate rise attracts money out of bonds into cash)Fear of rising inflation will cause bond prices to fall, because investors worry that bonds will not bring enough income to keep pace with inflationThe German and American bond markets have an effect on UK bond prices, because they are competing for the same institutional capital.Similar MatchesTAC bondsTAC bondsSee: Targeted amortization class bond. Baby bondBaby bondA bond with a par value of less than $1000. Bond yieldBond yieldYield calculations on bonds aim to show the return on a gilt or bond as a percentage of either its nominal value or its current price. There are three types of yield calculation that are commonly used:Nominal Yield (also known as 'flat yield')This is calculated by dividing the annual income on the bond by its nomina or 'par' value. So the nominal yield on a £100 bond which pays 5% interest per year is 5/100 x 100 = 5%.Current or 'Running Yield'This is calculated by dividing the annual income on the bond by its current market price. So if the market price of the £100 bond dropped to £95, the current yield on the bond at that time would be 5/95 x 100 = 5.36%. Note that as the market price of a bond drops, its yield goes up.Redemption Yield'The Redemption Yield shows what the total return on a bond would be if held to its maturity date. It reflects not only the interest payments a bondholder will receive, but also the gain/loss he will make when it matures. The income element is the same 'current yield' calculation performed above. The gain/loss element is calculated by taking the difference between the current market price and the nominal value of the bond (e.g. in our example 100 - 95 = 5), dividing it by the number of years til maturity (assume 5 years for simplicity, so 5/5 = 1) and then dividing that figure by the current price of the bond (1/95 x 100 = 1.05%) The yield to redemption is the sum of the current yield (5.36%) and the capital yield (1.05%) = 6.41%. Medium term bondMedium term bondA bond with a maturity between 2 and 10 years. Often known as 'mediums'. Twenty bond indexTwenty bond indexA benchmark indicator of the level of municipal bond yields. It consists of the yields on 20 general obligation municipal bonds with 20-year maturities with an average rating equivalent to a1l. Further SuggestionsDollar bondsmunicipal bond premium bonds growth bond convertible bond Payment in kind (PIK) bond Pure discount bond children's bonus bond Full coupon bond perpetual bond Active bond crowd Yankee bonds Dollar price of a bond Joint bond Story stock or bond Bearer bond Global bonds Income bond Tax exempt bond Eurobond Yen bond Senior mortgage bond Salomon Brothers Non US Dollar World Government Bond Index Passive bond Mismatch bond |
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