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• Corporate Bonds - homepage
  Resource website on corporate bonds including corporate bond ratings, floating notes, and discount notes.
  
  
• Corporate Bonds
  Corporate bonds are issued by both public and private corporations and large organizations. Corporate bonds are one of the more popular ways for a company to raise working capital for business expansion needs. In addition to corporate bonds' fixed rate interest payments, corporate bonds frequently offer higher yields than Treasury and other government backed securities. What is a corporate bond?
  
  
  • Corporate Bond Ratings
    The basis for determining the creditworthiness of corporate bonds relies on a corporate bond issuer ’s ability to make timely payments of interest and principal to corporate bond holders. Two recognized agencies that assign corporate bonds credit ratings (or just corporate bond ratings) to corporate issues are Moody’s Investors Service (Moody's Ratings) and Standard & Poor’s (or S&P ratings).
    
    
  • Example of Corporate Bonds
    An example of corporate bonds is an investment grade corporate bond. Another example of corporate bonds is a high yield corporate bond. Investment Grade bonds vs.. High Yield Bonds Most corporate bonds are characterized as either investment grade corporate bonds or high yield investments. The primary differences between the two are their assigned credit quality corporate bond ratings and levels of return.
    
    
  • Step Up Corporate Bonds
    A step up corporate bond is a callable security with a coupon rate that increases or “steps-up” according to a preset schedule until the corporate bond matures or is called. The initial coupon rate is locked in and paid to investors until the first call date. At that time one of two things will occur: If the corporate bond is called, it will be redeemed at par, plus any interest accrued to the call date.
    
    
  • Secured Bonds and Unsecured Bonds
    In addition to being categorized as either investment grade corporate bonds or high yield corporate bonds, corporate bonds are also defined as either “secured” corporate bonds or “unsecured” corporate bonds.
    
    
  • TRACERS
    TRACERS (Traded Custody Receipts) can deliver a regular income stream, investment diversification, plus a scheduled return of principal in a single exchange traded product. Tracers provide individual investors the opportunity to own an interest in a investment portfolio of approximately 20-30 corporate bonds.
    
    
  • Convertible Bonds
    Below are convertible bonds basics. Convertible bonds are bonds that the bond holder can exchange for another security. Usually convertible bonds can be exchanged for equity.
    
    
• Corporate Bond Offerings
  Corporate bond offerings are made when a corporate bond issuer issues particular corporate bonds as a form of debt financing for the first time.
  
  
• Corporate Bond Investing
  Corporate bond investing is an important part of bond investing especially for investors who are more conservative than aggressive. There are many types of bonds to invest in and corporate bond investing tend to be more attractive and flexible than most types of bond investing.
  
  
  • Investment Benefits of Corporate Bonds
    Corporate bonds play an important role in many investment portfolios because: 1. Corporate bonds offer attractive investment yields Typically, corporate bonds provide higher investment yields than other comparable-maturity fixed income securities. 2. Corporate bonds offer Predictable Income
    
    
  • Bond Redemption
    To reduce or refinance their outstanding corporate bonds obligations — particularly when interest rates decline — corporations may retire or “call away” corporate bonds prior to the corporate bonds' maturity. It is important that you find out the potential bond redemption provisions of a corporate bond before investing in the corporate bond.
    
    
• Discount Notes
  What is an agency discount note? An agency discount note is a short term investment alternative, typically available on a daily basis, through several different dealer firms. An Agency discount note has maturities ranging from overnight to 360 days.
  
  
  • Agency Discount Notes
    1. What are Agency Notes? Agency Notes are debt instruments by U.S. government sponsored enterprises raise capital for their operations. Examples such enterprises include: Fannie Mae (FNMA) Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC, or “Freddie Mac”) Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLB) Federal Farm Credit Banks (FFCB)
    
    
  • Agency Notes
    6. How are Agency discount note yields quotes? Agency discount notes are quoted in terms of a “discount yield”, the same way as Treasury Bills.
    
    
  • Floating Rate Notes
    What are Floating Rate Notes? Floating Rate Notes or Floaters, are debt securities that adjust or “float” periodically against a benchmark rate such as the Treasury Bill, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR).
    
    
  • Benefits of Floating Rate Notes
    What are the benefits of floating rate notes or floater? Value in a Rising Interest Rate Environment An investor who believes interest rates are on the rise may not want to commit to a current fixed rate for the long term investment. Conversely, short term inertness rates may also not meet an investor’s expectations.
    
    
  • Who Invests in Floaters?
    Investors should consider their need for steady income when investing in floating rate notes or floaters because a decline in the benchmark used, will result in a lower interest payment.
    
    
  • Risks of Floating Rate Notes
    Risks of Floating Rate Notes #1: Interest Rate Risk While the market value of floating rate notes or floaters are relatively insensitive to changes in interest rates, the income received are, highly dependent upon the level of the reference rate over the life of the floating rate notes investment. Total return of floating rate notes may be less than anticipated if future interest rate expectations are not met.
    
    
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