1.6 Fixed Income Securities Flashcards
How are agends linked in fixed income markets?
What are fixed income securities?
Securities with a claim to a “fixed” set of cashflows at “fixed” dates. A form of debt financing.
What are other forms of debt financing?
Bank loans.
Differences betweeen fixed income securities and bank loans
Types of fixed income security based on maturity
Bills (up to 1 year at issue)
Notes (1-10 years)
Bonds (10+ years)
Types of fixed income security based on cashflow structure
Fixed rate or “straight” bonds - single equal “coupon” payment.
Floating rate or “floaters” - variable rate bonds tied to a reference interest rate.
Zero-coupon or discount bonds - no coupon payments, so interest is from the discount.
Perpetuities or “consols” - fixed coupon payment, but no repayment of principal.
What is meant by option structure?
Bonds may have “options” built in, calls, puts, convertibles, exchanges.
Types of fixed income security based on issuer type
Sovereign issuers (countries) and non-sovereign (everyone else).
Types of fixed income security based on cashflow
Maturity (when do we get the money back?)
Principal (how much did we invest?)
Coupon (regular cashflow payments)
What do fixed income securities differ by (time value)?
Interest rates (not a single value)
How do fixed income securities vary based on risks?
Inflation
Credit (rating)
Timing (callability = bond issuer can decide to repay early)
Liquidity (if there is no trading in the bond, there will be a discount)
Currency risks (rouble bonds returns in US$ can look pretty ropey)
How is the information on the time value of money given?
Spot interest rates
Prices of discount bonds (e.g., zero-coupon bonds)
Prices of coupon bonds
Forward interest rates
What are zero-coupon bonds?
A zero-coupon (or discount) bond with maturity date t is a bond which pays a lump sum (the par or face value) at t and no periodic interest (coupons) at all.
What is the formula for current price and interest rate for zero-coupon bonds?
What is meant by par value?
The Par Value is the face value (FV) on the issuance of securities like bonds or stocks, as established on the issuer’s security certificate.
Par values: bonds
The par value of a bond is the amount owed to the bondholders at maturity by the issuer.
Bonds are issued at or near their par (face) value, most often $1,000, unlike common stock.
Par values: common stock
The par value of common stock is the stated value per share, ie. the minimum share price that future shares can be issued to the public.
Common stock is issued much higher than the par value, which is most often well below $0.01.
Why are zero-coupon bonds useful?
The calculation of the interest rate is simple.
Where do the returns arise for zero-coupon bonds?
The difference between the par value (received at t=1) and the bond price (paid in t=0).
Example: what is the spot rate corresponding to the 5-year zero?
What are spot rates?
A spot rate rt is the current annualised interest rate for a maturity date t.
It is the “average” interest rate between now and t, and can vary depending on the maturity t.
How are spot rates calculated?
Calculated using zero coupon (discount bonds) which mature at t. Thus, r5 is the spot rate for 5 years.
What is a coupon bond?
It pays a stream of regular coupons, as determined by a coupon rate C, as well as the notional amount of the principal N at maturity.
What is the equation for the price of a coupon bond?
Where C is the coupon rate, N is the principal at maturity, Bt is current price
How do we need to alter calculations it bonds pay coupons more/less often than once per year?
The appropriate infra-annual spot rates (e.g., for 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, … years) needs to be used instead.
Example: what should the price of the coupon be?
What if it actually trades at a higher or lower price?
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