Credit
Quality Bond Ratings typically range from AAA / Aaa (highest) to D (lowest).
A high
quality bond rating of AAA from Standard and Poor's, for example, means the bond is of the highest investment quality, suggesting the company will have the ability to pay both principal and interest at maturity.
Seemingly high -
quality bonds rated A3 by Moody's had been downgraded five notches to Ba2, as had the other bonds in the pool aside from its triple - A's.
Not exact matches
Fill the bulk of your portfolio with a combination of high -
rated bonds (weighted toward corporate, rather than government, debt) and high -
quality, dividend - paying equities, and you likely won't take a hit.
«The credit
quality, this move up in interest
rates, this loss of a four - decade uptrend in
bonds, downtrend in yields, that's the source of the volatility which I think far surpasses these amazing developments technology has come across in the last couple of decades,» said Gordon.
Ms. Jones suggests sticking with floating -
rate funds that invest in high - quality bonds, such as the iShares Floating Rate Bond E.T
rate funds that invest in high -
quality bonds, such as the iShares Floating
Rate Bond E.T
Rate Bond E.T.F..
Moreover, Treasuries are quite sensitive to
rate increases, and Ms. Jones found that the credit
quality of the corporate
bonds in the index had decreased since the financial crisis.
Funds that own high -
quality bonds with shorter durations, such as Fidelity Short - Term
Bond, can help reduce your portfolio's sensitivity to rising
rates.
Rating service Moody's tracks covenant
quality, essentially a measure of standards that
bond issuers must meet, and reported Thursday that the latest reading remains near record highs, which indicates weak restrictions.
The assumed discount
rate utilized is based on a broad sample of Moody's high
quality corporate
bond yields as of the measurement date.
The NAV (net asset value) of a
bond fund will move up or down based on a number of factors such as changes in interest
rates, credit
quality, and currency values (for international
bonds) for the different
bond holdings in the fund.
The
bond rating is an important process because the
rating alerts investors to the
quality and stability of the
bond.
A
bond rating is a grade given to
bonds that indicates their credit
quality.
Similarly, when it comes to your
bond investments, consider varying maturities, credit
qualities, and durations, which measure sensitivity to interest -
rate changes.
This way, if a bear market occurs, you have a year of cash becoming available at the maturity date so that you do not have to sell stocks, and in a bull market you can buy new
bonds as the ones you own mature, and you thereby benefit from the higher interest
rates that high
quality bonds give versus cash or CDs.
When people see banks browbeating the
bond rating agencies and accounting firms to whitewash the
quality of what they're pawning off on their customers, when they see bank lobbyists getting Washington to block state prosecutions of financial fraud so as to clear the way for more predatory lending and false packaging of the junk securities they're selling and to win the right not to reveal their true financial position, there's a good reason not to buy what's in these black boxes.
A
bond's credit
quality is determined by private independent
rating agencies such as Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch.
Source: Risk of loss: Should the prospect of rising
rates push investors from high -
quality bonds?
But if interest
rates and
bond yields had decreased in the meantime, you wouldn't be able to generate as much income as before with the same amount invested in a similar
quality bond.
A downgrade in the credit
rating of a
bond by the credit agencies can affect
bond performance as well if institutional investors are forced to sell because of restrictions on the credit
quality of the
bonds they're able to hold.
Performance varies greatly for
bonds of different credit
qualities, but even during the worst bear market for
bonds, the 40 - year period of rising
rates from 1941 to 1981, the worst 1 - year loss for the Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate
Bond Index was just 5 %.
In pursuance of the Union Budget 2018 announcement, the board also cleared a proposal on changing the investment grade
rating from AA to A for corporate
bonds, which would boost investment scope while ensuring credit
quality.
Spreads on the lowest
quality segment of the «junk»
bond category, «C»
rated bonds, have narrowed by an extraordinary 30 percentage points since late 2001, to around 5.5 percentage points.
While spreads between yields on highly -
rated corporate
bonds and government
bonds have remained above their historical averages, this continues to reflect strong demand for Commonwealth Government
bonds rather than concerns about corporate credit
quality.
The market for
bonds is very large and prices reflect the trade - off between
rates, credit
quality and
bond maturity.
-- Income more difficult to provide clients, in a zero
rate environment many will suggest high yield corporate
bonds and leveraged loans to supplement traditional fixed income but many clients are not willing to sacrifice
quality for a higher yield.
Sources:
Bond - market losses may hit 40 %, and retirees are most vulnerable (MarketWatch) Risk of loss: Should the prospect of rising
rates push investors to high
quality bonds?
The investor should note that vehicles that invest in lower -
rated debt securities (commonly referred to as junk
bonds) involve additional risks because of the lower credit
quality of the securities in the portfolio.
Inflation and
rates would likely move up together and for the same reasons, but unless we see a huge, short - term shift up in
rates I'm guessing we won't see any 2008 - sized losses in high
quality bonds.
This is a market - based estimate of the amount of fear in the
bond market Bass -
rated bonds are the lowest
quality bonds that are considered investment - grade, rather than high - yield.
So, market participants who buy and sell
bonds at different prices are expressing different views about a number of variables: the likelihood that these cash flows will be received (credit
quality); the velocity at which they may be received (prepayment or extension); their relative value to other
bonds; and their interest
rates relative to prevailing
rates.
Credit provides the potential for both diversification and incremental returns: While
rate - driven government
bonds have been rewarded during flight to
quality periods, credit has been rewarded in times of strong economic growth.
However, munis may pay lower yields than Treasury or corporate
bonds of similar maturity and
quality, and are subject to the same
rate risks as other
bonds.
High - yield
bonds are issued by corporations with lower credit
quality ratings.
Instead, Wang and his colleagues identified a relationship between a feature of the
bonds linking carbon and hydrogen in methane molecules — a
quality they deemed «clumpiness» — and the
rate at which methane was produced: The clumpier the
bond, the slower the
rate of methanogenesis.
If you like escapist espionage thrillers with lots of action, perhaps there's enough
quality actors, superb stunt work, and nice location shoots to give The November Man a passable grade, especially because the R -
rated action can be quite brutal compared to a James
Bond flick.
«To construct / renovate classrooms, restrooms / school facilities to improve the
quality of education at Brittan Elementary School, build a gymnasium for school and community use; repair, construct, acquire classrooms, sites and equipment, shall this Brittan Elementary School District measure be adopted to issue $ 4,000,000 of
bonds at legal
rates, levy approximately 3 cents / $ 100 assessed value, generating approximately $ 260,000 annually while
bonds are outstanding, with annual audits, independent citizens» oversight, NO money for salaries, all money staying local?»
«To improve the
quality of education; make health and safety improvements; modernize / construct classrooms, restrooms and school facilities: and improve P.E. fields and facilities; shall Laton Joint Unified School District issue $ 7,000,000 of
bonds at legal
rates, averaging $ 421,000 annually as long as bands are outstanding at a
rate of approximately 6 cents per $ 100 assessed value, with annual audits, an independent citizens» oversight committee, no money for salaries, and funding that can not be taken by the State?»
Always remember, higher the coupon / interest
rate on the
bond; lower is its inherent credit
quality.
For example, the yields on CCC -
rated high yield
bonds are quite low on a 10 - year basis given the historically higher default
rates in this low -
quality portion of the market.
As for
bonds, you want to own both government and high -
quality corporate issues in a range of maturities (although, to protect yourself against the possibility of rising
rates, you'll want to keep the average maturity of your overall holdings in the short - to intermediate - term range).
So, market participants who buy and sell
bonds at different prices are expressing different views about a number of variables: the likelihood that these cash flows will be received (credit
quality); the velocity at which they may be received (prepayment or extension); their relative value to other
bonds; and their interest
rates relative to prevailing
rates.
«Many investors are interested in high credit
quality bonds, but the supply of AAA -
rated corporate debt in the U.S. is very limited,» said Michael L. Sapir, Chairman and CEO of ProShare Advisors LLC, ProShares» investment advisor.
A
bond's credit
quality is usually determined by independent
bond rating agencies, such as Moody's Investors Service, Inc., and Standard & Poor's Corporation (S&P).
Unlike with stocks, there are organizations that
rate the
quality of each
bond by assigning a credit
rating, so you know how likely it is that you'll get your expected payments.
The S&P China High
Quality Corporate
Bond 3 - 7 Year Index, an investible index tracks the performance of Chinese corporate
bonds within three to seven year tenors and uses more stringent
rating criteria, has outperformed its boarder benchmark and returned 5.70 % YTD, as of August 27, 2015.
A
bond rating is a grade applied to a
bond issuance clearly specifying the
quality and level of risk assumed by a
bond purchaser.
Although the advisor intends to invest at least 65 % of the fund's net assets in municipal
bonds rated investment grade or in unrated municipal
bonds that fund management believes are of comparable
quality, it is possible that in the future the fund could invest up to 100 % of its assets in «junk
bonds.»
Investors and fund managers search for yield, extend maturities, reach for lower credit
quality and shift assets from short term floating
rate money market funds to
bonds,
bond funds and similar investments.
Bonds that are higher -
quality (more likely to be paid on time) generally offer lower interest
rates.