2.2.2 Bonds
Bonds are issued by organizations (companies or governments) as a way of borrowing money. The bond pays a fixed income, set at the time the bond is issued, over its entire life. The interest rate paid by the bond is called the coupon rate. After the bond matures, the issuer of the bond pays back the principle. The time to maturity on a bond can vary from months to decades; 30 year bonds are quite common. Depending on the type of bond, it may be possible for the issuer to “call” the bond, and pay back the principle early; whether this can be done for a given bond is specified when the bond is issued [1]. Bonds are often traded higher or lower than the par value; if a bond was issued when interest rates were high, and rates then went down, the bond would trade for more than the par value, since investors would pay a premium for a bond that would pay the higher interest rate. Such a bond would likely be called if the bond is callable. On the flipside, if
interest rates go up, bondholders would be willing to sell their bonds for less than the original price, so they can buy newly issued bonds with higher interest rates.