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| BondsOnline.com: instant access to and extensive coverage of over 3.5 million stocks, bonds, indexes and other securities covering major and emerging markets and exchanges across the globe. |
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| Bonds Online |
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| 5/10/2013Market Performance |
| Municipal Bonds |
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S&P National Bond Index
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3.00% |
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S&P California Bond Index
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2.96% |
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S&P New York Bond Index
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3.13% |
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S&P National 0-5 Year Municipal Bond Index
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0.70% |
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| S&P/BGCantor US Treasury Bond |
400.09 |
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| Income Equities: |
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| Preferred Stocks |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index
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848.03 |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (CAD)
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636.26 |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (TR)
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1,701.05 |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (TR) (CAD)
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1,276.26 |
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| REITs |
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S&P REIT Index
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174.07 |
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S&P REIT Index (TR)
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425.30 |
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| MLPs |
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S&P MLP Index
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2,469.58 |
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S&P MLP Index (TR)
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5,428.50 |
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See Data
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Bond ETFs: Buy low if you can, don't sweat if you can't |
USA TODAY - March 21, 2010 - by Matt Krantz
Q: When it comes to bond exchange-traded funds, like the iShares iBoxx Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), is it best to invest when the price is high or low?
A: Investors sometimes have trouble telling which end is up when it comes to bonds.
The confusion probably stems from the fact that bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. When bond prices are rallying — that is, moving higher — the payout, which stays constant, becomes smaller relative to the price, so the yield goes down. Similarly, when bonds sell off, and their prices fall, the yield increases.
With bonds, just with stocks, you want to buy when the price is low. If you invest when prices are low, that means yields are higher. So, not only do you collect a bigger cash payout relative to your investments, you also have a greater shot at price appreciation.
If you pay too much for bonds, you can doom yourself to low future returns.
The theory is easy: Buy bonds when their prices are low. But that's hard to do in practice.
Bond prices are closely tied to economic trends, including inflation, interest rates and movements by the Federal Reserve. While some bond fund managers try to predict such things, it's probably out of the skill set of most individual investors.
And that's why, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, it's best for individuals to simply figure out what percentage of their portfolio should be in bonds. Then, rather than try to time the bond market, track that percentage and hold it there.
Matt Krantz is a financial markets reporter at USA TODAY and author of Investing Online for Dummies and Fundamental Analysis for Dummies. He answers a different reader question every weekday in his Ask Matt column at money.usatoday.com. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com. Click here to see previous Ask Matt columns. Follow Matt on Twitter at: twitter.com/mattkrantz
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| Stuff to look at |
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Income Security Recommendation January 2013 Issue.
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