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Why the CAT bond market is booming right now

Mar 13, 2024
They're called CAT — for catastrophe — bonds, and insurers and investors can't get enough of them.
If disaster does strike, CAT bond investors could potentially lose the principal, interest or both. Above, destroyed homes and storm debris in Florida after Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images

Junk bonds offer insight into the economy

Mar 6, 2024
Right now, the junk bond market suggests the economy is fairly strong.
Junk bonds come from companies that have a higher debt, giving them a less than stellar credit rating.
David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

Why are long-term bond yields so high? Even Jerome Powell wants to know

Nov 10, 2023
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said that we “don’t really know” why long-term bond yields have been going up.
Hasn't Powell been listening to "Marketplace?"
Alex Wong/Getty Images

With demand down, there's a new buyer of Treasurys in town

Nov 1, 2023
The Federal Reserve and major U.S. banks are buying fewer bonds than they used to. Hedge funds are picking up some of the slack.
The Treasury Department just released its quarterly refunding statement. Next week, it will auction off billions in bonds.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Japan loosens its grip on long-term interest rates

Oct 31, 2023
The Bank of Japan’s "yield curve control policy" could be on its way out as central banks around the world raise rates to beat inflation.
Until recently, the Bank of Japan was trying to keep interest rates on bonds low to stimulate the economy. Above, the Bank of Japan building.
Richard A. Brooks/AFP via Getty Images

Why are bond yields so high right now?

Oct 23, 2023
The yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly hit 5%, the highest level since 2007. A resilient economy and expanding debt are pushing rates up.
For a while, bond markets expected a weaker economy and possible rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in 2024.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

U.S. equity investors think stocks are too expensive, survey finds

Aug 16, 2023
S&P Global’s investment manager index survey says most sectors are losing favor with investors. What's going on?
Climbing interest rates are pushing investors away from stocks and into bonds, per Gary Schlossberg with the Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Where does the US credit rating come from?

May 25, 2023
Atsi Sheth from Moody's gives us a behind the scenes look into the company's ratings process.
"In the most basic terms, a credit rating is really an opinion on the credit quality of any entity that borrows on the debt capital markets," said Atsi Sheth at Moody's Investors Service.
Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

How the Fed's rate hikes spelled trouble for banks like SVB

Mar 21, 2023
Why bonds lose value when the Fed hikes interest rates and what that has to do with banks.
Silicon Valley Bank was among the financial institutions for which rising interest rates on bonds spelled trouble.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

What is "duration risk"? (And how did it get Silicon Valley Bank into trouble?)

Mar 16, 2023
Investing in long-term government bonds and mortgage-backed securities hurt the bank as interest rates rose and bond prices plummeted.
Some bonds are more sensitive to interest rates than others, depending on how long they take to mature. That “duration risk” hurt SVB financially.
Noah Berger/AFP via Getty Images