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In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the
holders a debt and is obliged to repay the principal and interest (the coupon)
at a later date, termed maturity. Other stipulations may also be attached to the
bond issue, such as the obligation for the issuer to provide certain information
to the bond holder, or limitations on the behavior of the issuer.
In case of debt securities issued by U.S. Treasury, those with life of ten years
or more are called "bonds", those with life between one year and ten years are
"notes" and those with life of less than a year are "bills".
A bond is simply a loan, but in the form of a security, although terminology
used is rather different. The issuer is equivalent to the borrower, the bond
holder to the lender, and the coupon to the interest. Bonds enable the issuer to
finance long-term investments with external funds. Note that certificates of
deposit (CDs) or commercial paper are considered to be money market instruments
and not bonds.
In some nations, both terms bonds and notes are used irrespective of the
maturity. Market participants normally use the terms bonds for large issues
offered to a wide public and notes for smaller issues originally sold to a
limited number of investors. There are no clear demarcations. There are also
"bills" which usually denote fixed income securities with terms of three years
or less, from the issue date, to maturity. Bonds have the highest risk, notes
are the second highest risk, and bills have the least risk. This is due to a
statistical measure called duration, where lower durations mean less risk and
are associated with shorter term obligations.
Bonds and stocks are both securities, but the major difference between the two
is that stock-holders are the owners of the company (i.e., they have an equity
stake), whereas bond-holders are lenders to the issuing company. Another
difference is that bonds usually have a defined term, or maturity, after which
the bond is redeemed, whereas stocks may be outstanding indefinitely. An
exception is a consol bond, which is a perpetuity (i.e., bond with no maturity).
Issuers
The range of issuers of bonds is very large. Almost any organization could issue
bonds, but the underwriting and legal costs can be prohibitive. Regulations to
issue bonds are very strict. Issuers are often classified as follows:
* Supranational agencies, such as the European Investment Bank or the Asian
Development Bank issue supranational bonds.
* National Governments issue government bonds in their own currency. They also
issue sovereign bonds in foreign currencies.
* Sub-sovereign, provincial, state or local authorities (municipalities). In the
U.S. state and local government bonds are known as municipal bonds.
* Government sponsored entities. In the U.S., examples include the Federal Home
Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), the Federal National Mortgage
Association (Fannie Mae), and the Federal Home Loan Banks. The bonds of these
entities are known as agency bonds, or agencies.
* Companies (corporates) issue corporate bonds.
* Special purpose vehicles are companies set up for the sole purpose of
containing assets against which bonds are issued, often called asset-backed
securities.
Issuing bonds
Bonds are issued by public authorities, credit institutions, companies and
supranational institutions in the primary markets. The most common process of
issuing bonds is through underwriting. In underwriting, one or more securities
firms or banks, forming a syndicate, buy an entire issue of bonds from an issuer
and re-sell them to investors. Government bonds are typically auctioned.
Features of bonds
The most important features of a bond are:
* nominal, principal or face amount—the amount on which the issuer pays
interest, and which has to be repaid at the end.
* issue price—the price at which investors buy the bonds when they are first
issued, typically $1, 000.00. The net proceeds that the issuer receives are
calculated as the issue price, less issuance fees, times the nominal amount.
* maturity date—the date on which the issuer has to repay the nominal amount. As
long as all payments have been made, the issuer has no more obligations to the
bond holders after the maturity date. The length of time until the maturity date
is often referred to as the term or tenor or maturity of a bond. The maturity
can be any length of time, although debt securities with a term of less than one
year are generally designated money market instruments rather than bonds. Most
bonds have a term of up to thirty years. Some bonds have been issued with
maturities of up to one hundred years, and some even do not mature at all. In
early 2005, a market developed in euros for bonds with a maturity of fifty
years. In the market for U.S. Treasury securities, there are three groups of
bond maturities:
o short term (bills): maturities up to one year;
o medium term (notes): maturities between one and ten years;
o long term (bonds): maturities greater than ten years.
* coupon—the interest rate that the issuer pays to the bond holders. Usually
this rate is fixed throughout the life of the bond. It can also vary with a
money market index, such as LIBOR, or it can be even more exotic. The name
coupon originates from the fact that in the past, physical bonds were issued
which had coupons attached to them. On coupon dates the bond holder would give
the coupon to a bank in exchange for the interest payment.
* coupon dates—the dates on which the issuer pays the coupon to the bond
holders. In the U.S., most bonds are semi-annual, which means that they pay a
coupon every six months. In Europe, most bonds are annual and pay only one
coupon a year.
* indenture or covenants—a document specifying the rights of bond holders. In
the U.S., federal and state securities and commercial laws apply to the
enforcement of those documents, which are construed by courts as contracts. The
terms may be changed only with great difficulty while the bonds are outstanding,
with amendments to the governing document generally requiring approval by a
majority (or super-majority) vote of the bond holders.
* Optionality: a bond may contain an embedded option; that is, it grants option
like features to the buyer or issuer:
o callability—Some bonds give the issuer the right to repay the bond before the
maturity date on the call dates; see call option. These bonds are referred to as
callable bonds. Most callable bonds allow the issuer to repay the bond at par.
With some bonds, the issuer has to pay a premium, the so called call premium.
This is mainly the case for high-yield bonds. These have very strict covenants,
restricting the issuer in its operations. To be free from these covenants, the
issuer can repay the bonds early, but only at a high cost.
o puttability—Some bonds give the bond holder the right to force the issuer to
repay the bond before the maturity date on the put dates; see put option.
o call dates and put dates—the dates on which callable and puttable bonds can be
redeemed early. There are four main categories.
+ A Bermudan callable has several call dates, usually coinciding with coupon
dates.
+ A European callable has only one call date. This is a special case of a
Bermudan callable.
+ An American callable can be called at any time until the maturity date.
+ A death put is an optional redemption feature on a debt instrument allowing
the beneficiary of the estate of the deceased to put (sell) the bond (back to
the issuer) in the event of the beneficiary's death or legal incapacitation.
Also known as a "survivor's option".
* sinking fund provision of the corporate bond indenture requires a certain
portion of the issue to be retired periodically. The entire bond issue can be
liquidated by the maturity date. If that is not the case, then the remainder is
called balloon maturity. Issuers may either pay to trustees, which in turn call
randomly selected bonds in the issue, or, alternatively, purchase bonds in open
market, then return them to trustees.
* convertible bond lets a bondholder exchange a bond to a number of shares of
the issuer's common stock.
* exchangeable bond allows for exchange to shares of a corporation other than
the issuer.
Types of bonds
* Fixed rate bonds have a coupon that remains constant throughout the life of
the bond.
* Floating rate notes (FRN's) have a coupon that is linked to a money market
index, such as LIBOR or Euribor, for example three months USD LIBOR + 0.20%. The
coupon is then reset periodically, normally every three months.
* High yield bonds are bonds that are rated below investment grade by the credit
rating agencies. As these bonds are relatively risky, investors expect to earn a
higher yield. These bonds are also called junk bonds.
* Zero coupon bonds do not pay any interest. They trade at a substantial
discount from par value. The bond holder receives the full principal amount as
well as value that has accrued on the redemption date. An example of zero coupon
bonds are Series E savings bonds issued by the U.S. government. Zero coupon
bonds may be created from fixed rate bonds by financial institutions by
"stripping off" the coupons. In other words, the coupons are separated from the
final principal payment of the bond and traded independently.
* Inflation linked bonds, in which the principal amount is indexed to inflation.
The interest rate is lower than for fixed rate bonds with a comparable maturity.
However, as the principal amount grows, the payments increase with inflation.
The government of the United Kingdom was the first to issue inflation linked
Gilts in the 1980s. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) and I-bonds
are examples of inflation linked bonds issued by the U.S. government.
* Other indexed bonds, for example equity linked notes and bonds indexed on a
business indicator (income, added value) or on a country's GDP.
* Asset-backed securities are bonds whose interest and principal payments are
backed by underlying cash flows from other assets. Examples of asset-backed
securities are mortgage-backed securities (MBS's), collateralized mortgage
obligations (CMOs) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs).
* Subordinated bonds are those that have a lower priority than other bonds of
the issuer in case of liquidation. In case of bankruptcy, there is a hierarchy
of creditors. First the liquidator is paid, then government taxes, etc. The
first bond holders in line to be paid are those holding what is called senior
bonds. After they have been paid, the subordinated bond holders are paid. As a
result, the risk is higher. Therefore, subordinated bonds usually have a lower
credit rating than senior bonds. The main examples of subordinated bonds can be
found in bonds issued by banks, and asset-backed securities. The latter are
often issued in tranches. The senior tranches get paid back first, the
subordinated tranches later.
* Perpetual bonds are also often called perpetuities. They have no maturity
date. The most famous of these are the UK Consols, which are also known as
Treasury Annuities or Undated Treasuries. Some of these were issued back in 1888
and still trade today. Some ultra long-term bonds (sometimes a bond can last
centuries: West Shore Railroad issued a bond which matures in 2361 (i.e. 24th
century)) are sometimes viewed as perpetuities from a financial point of view,
with the current value of principal near zero.
* Bearer bond is an official certificate issued without a named holder. In other
words, the person who has the paper certificate can claim the value of the bond.
Often they are registered by a number to prevent counterfeiting, but may be
traded like cash. Bearer bonds are very risky because they can be lost or
stolen. Especially after federal income tax began in the United States, bearer
bonds were seen as an opportunity to conceal income or assets.[1] U.S.
corporations stopped issuing bearer bonds in the 1960s, the U.S. Treasury
stopped in 1982, and state and local tax-exempt bearer bonds were prohibited in
1983.[2]
* Bear bond, often confused with Bearer bond, is a bond issued in Russian
roubles by a Russian entity in the Russian market.
* Registered bond is a bond whose ownership (and any subsequent purchaser) is
recorded by the issuer, or by a transfer agent. It is the alternative to a
Bearer bond. Interest payments, and the principal upon maturity, are sent to the
registered owner.
* Municipal bond is a bond issued by a state, U.S. Territory, city, local
government, or their agencies. Interest income received by holders of municipal
bonds is often exempt from the federal income tax and from the income tax of the
state in which they are issued, although municipal bonds issued for certain
purposes may not be tax exempt.
* Book-entry bond is a bond that does not have a paper certificate. As
physically processing paper bonds and interest coupons became more expensive,
issuers (and banks that used to collect coupon interest for depositors) have
tried to discourage their use. Some book-entry bond issues do not offer the
option of a paper certificate, even to investors who prefer them.[3]
* Lottery bond is a bond issued by a state, usually a European state. Interest
is paid like a traditional fixed rate bond, but the issuer will redeem randomly
selected individual bonds within the issue according to a schedule. Some of
these redemptions will be for a higher value than the face value of the bond.
* War bond is a bond issued by a country to fund a war.
Bonds issued by foreign entities
Some companies, banks, governments, and other sovereign entities may decide to
issue bonds in foreign currencies as it may appear to be more stable and
predictable than their domestic currency. Issuing bonds denominated in foreign
currencies also gives issuers the ability to access investment capital available
in foreign markets. The proceeds from the issuance of these bonds can be used by
companies to break into foreign markets, or can be converted into the issuing
company's local currency to be used on existing operations. Foreign issuer bonds
can also be used to hedge foreign exchange rate risk. Some of these bonds are
called by their nicknames, such as the "samurai bond."
* Eurodollar bond, a U.S. dollar-denominated bond issued by a non-U.S. entity
outside the U.S.[citation needed]
* Kangaroo bond, an Australian dollar-denominated bond issued by a
non-Australian entity in the Australian market
* Maple bond, a Canadian Dollar-denominated bond issued by a non-Canadian entity
in the Canadian market
* Samurai bond, a Japanese Yen-denominated bond issued by a non-Japanese entity
in the Japanese market
* Yankee bond, a US Dollar-denominated bond issued by a non-US entity in the US
market
* Shogun bond, a non-yen-denominated bond issued in Japan by a non-Japanese
institution or government
* Bulldog bond, a pound sterling-denominated bond issued in London by a foreign
institution or government
* Matrioshka Bond, a Russian rouble-denominated bond issued in the Russian
Federation by non-Russian entities. The name derives from the famous Russian
wooden dolls, Matrioshka, popular among foreign visitors to Russia
* Arirang bond, a Korean won-denominated bond issued by a non-Korean entity in
the Korean market[4]
* Kimchi bond, a non-Korean won-denominated bond issued by a non-Korean entity
in the Korean market.[5]
* Ninja loan, a Japanese yen syndicated loan by a foreign borrower [1]
* Formosa bond, a non-New Taiwan Dollar-denominated bond issued by a non-Taiwan
entity in the Taiwan market[6]
* Panda bond, a Chinese renminbi-denominated bond issued by a non-China entity
in the People's Republic of China market[7]
* State of Israel bond, a bond denominated in multiple currencies issued by the
State of Israel through the Development Corporation of Israel.
Trading and valuing bonds
See also: Bond valuation
The interest rate that the issuer of a bond must pay is influenced by a variety
of factors, such as current market interest rates, the length of the term and
the credit worthiness of the issuer.
These factors are likely to change over time, so the market value of a bond can
vary after it is issued. Because of these differences in market value, bonds are
priced in terms of percentage of par value. Bonds are not necessarily issued at
par (100% of face value, corresponding to a price of 100), but all bond prices
converge to par when they reach maturity. This is because if the prices do not
converge, arbitrageurs can make risk-free profit by buying the bonds at a
discount and collecting the face value at maturity. At other times, prices can
either rise (bond is priced at greater than 100), which is called trading at a
premium, or fall (bond is priced at less than 100), which is called trading at a
discount. Most government bonds are denominated in units of $1000, if in the
United States, or in units of £100, if in the United Kingdom. Hence, a deep
discount US bond, selling at a price of 75.26, indicates a selling price of
$752.60 per bond sold. (Often, bond prices are quoted in points and
thirty-seconds of a point, rather than in decimal form.) Some short-term bonds,
such as the U.S. Treasury Bill, are always issued at a discount, and pay par
amount at maturity rather than paying coupons. This is called a discount bond.
The market price of a bond is the present value of all future interest and
principal payments of the bond discounted at the bond's yield, or rate of
return. The yield represents the current market interest rate for bonds with
similar characteristics. The yield and price of a bond are inversely related so
that when market interest rates rise, bond prices generally fall and vice versa.
The market price of a bond may include the accrued interest since the last
coupon date. (Some bond markets include accrued interest in the trading price
and others add it on explicitly after trading.) The price including accrued
interest is known as the "flat" or "dirty price". (See also Accrual bond.) The
price excluding accrued interest is sometimes known as the Clean price.
The interest rate adjusted for the current price of the bond is called the
current yield or earnings yield (this is the nominal yield multiplied by the par
value and divided by the price).
Taking into account the expected capital gain or loss (the difference between
the current price and the redemption value) gives the "redemption yield":
roughly the current yield plus the capital gain (negative for loss) per year
until redemption.
The relationship between yield and maturity for otherwise identical bonds is
called a yield curve.
Bonds markets, unlike stock or share markets, often do not have a centralized
exchange or trading system. Rather, in most developed bond markets such as the
U.S., Japan and western Europe, bonds trade in decentralized, dealer-based
over-the-counter markets. In such a market, market liquidity is provided by
dealers and other market participants committing risk capital to trading
activity. In the bond market, when an investor buys or sells a bond, the
counterparty to the trade is almost always a bank or securities firm acting as a
dealer. In some cases, when a dealer buys a bond from an investor, the dealer
carries the bond "in inventory." The dealer's position is then subject to risks
of price fluctuation. In other cases, the dealer immediately resells the bond to
another investor.
Bond markets also differ from stock markets in that investors generally do not
pay brokerage commissions to dealers with whom they buy or sell bonds. Rather,
dealers earn revenue for trading with their investor customers by means of the
spread, or difference, between the price at which the dealer buys a bond from
one investor--the "bid" price--and the price at which he or she sells the same
bond to another investor--the "ask" or "offer" price. The bid/offer spread
represents the total transaction cost associated with transferring a bond from
one investor to another.
Investing in bonds
Bonds are bought and traded mostly by institutions like pension funds, insurance
companies and banks. Most individuals who want to own bonds do so through bond
funds. Still, in the U.S., nearly ten percent of all bonds outstanding are held
directly by households.
As a rule, bond markets rise (while yields fall) when stock markets fall. Thus
bonds are generally viewed as safer investments than stocks, but this perception
is only partially correct. Bonds do suffer from less day-to-day volatility than
stocks, and bonds' interest payments are higher than dividend payments that the
same company would generally choose to pay to its stockholders. Bonds are liquid
— it is fairly easy to sell one's bond investments, though not nearly as easy as
it is to sell stocks — and the certainty of a fixed interest payment twice per
year is attractive. Bondholders also enjoy a measure of legal protection: under
the law of most countries, if a company goes bankrupt, its bondholders will
often receive some money back (the recovery amount), whereas the company's stock
often ends up valueless. However, bonds can be risky:
* Fixed rate bonds are subject to interest rate risk, meaning that their market
prices will decrease in value when the generally prevailing interest rates rise.
Since the payments are fixed, a decrease in the market price of the bond means
an increase in its yield. When the market's interest rates rise, then the market
price for bonds will fall, reflecting investors' improved ability to get a good
interest rate for their money elsewhere — perhaps by purchasing a newly issued
bond that already features the newly higher interest rate. Note that this drop
in the bond's market price does not affect the interest payments to the
bondholder at all, so long-term investors need not worry about price swings in
their bonds and do not suffer from interest rate risk.
However, price changes in a bond immediately affect mutual funds that hold these
bonds. Many institutional investors have to "mark to market" their trading books
at the end of every day. If the value of the bonds held in a trading portfolio
has fallen over the day, the "mark to market" value of the portfolio may also
have fallen. This can be damaging for professional investors such as banks,
insurance companies, pension funds and asset managers. If there is any chance a
holder of individual bonds may need to sell his bonds and "cash out" for some
reason, interest rate risk could become a real problem. (Conversely, bonds'
market prices would increase if the prevailing interest rate were to drop, as it
did from 2001 through 2003.) One way to quantify the interest rate risk on a
bond is in terms of its duration. Efforts to control this risk are called
immunization or hedging.
* Bond prices can become volatile if one of the credit rating agencies like
Standard & Poor's or Moody's upgrades or downgrades the credit rating of the
issuer. A downgrade can cause the market price of the bond to fall. As with
interest rate risk, this risk does not affect the bond's interest payments, but
puts at risk the market price, which affects mutual funds holding these bonds,
and holders of individual bonds who may have to sell them.
* A company's bondholders may lose much or all their money if the company goes
bankrupt. Under the laws of many countries (including the United States and
Canada), bondholders are in line to receive the proceeds of the sale of the
assets of a liquidated company ahead of some other creditors. Bank lenders,
deposit holders (in the case of a deposit taking institution such as a bank) and
trade creditors may take precedence.
There is no guarantee of how much money will remain to repay bondholders. As an
example, after an accounting scandal and a Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the giant
telecommunications company Worldcom, in 2004 its bondholders ended up being paid
35.7 cents on the dollar. In a bankruptcy involving reorganization or
recapitalization, as opposed to liquidation, bondholders may end up having the
value of their bonds reduced, often through an exchange for a smaller number of
newly issued bonds.
* Some bonds are callable, meaning that even though the company has agreed to
make payments plus interest towards the debt for a certain period of time, the
company can choose to pay off the bond early. This creates reinvestment risk,
meaning the investor is forced to find a new place for his money, and the
investor might not be able to find as good a deal, especially because this
usually happens when interest rates are falling.
Bond indices
See also: Bond market index
A number of bond indices exist for the purposes of managing portfolios and
measuring performance, similar to the S&P 500 or Russell Indexes for stocks. The
most common American benchmarks are the Lehman Aggregate, Citigroup BIG and
Merrill Lynch Domestic Master. Most indices are parts of families of broader
indices that can be used to measure global bond portfolios, or may be further
subdivided by maturity and/or sector for managing specialized portfolios.
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