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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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The Crumbling Debt Maturity Wall |
Forbes.com - April 22, 2010 - by Matthew Craft
That tidal wave of corporate debt coming due looks a little more surmountable, S&P says.
With corporate bond markets soaring and companies finding investors happy to hand over their cash again, credit rating agencies and debt research firms sounded a cautious note at the beginning of 2010. An estimated $1.4 trillion in debt needed to be repaid over the next five years, they warned. That so-called maturity wall threatened to crush companies with weak credit ratings, which owed $800 billion of the total bill.
Now that a few months have passed, debt analysts are playing a more optimistic tune. In a recent report, the rating agency Standard & Poor's said refinancing fears have started to fade. S&P listed a few positive signs: companies are posting larger profits and paying down debt; borrowing costs and defaults are dropping; and a parade of corporations continue to sell bonds, mainly to chip away at the maturity wall.
Sales of speculative-grade, or high-yield, bonds notched a record $74.9 billion in the first quarter, according to Thomson Reuters. But all that new supply hasn't pushed bond prices down and yields higher, notes Diane Vazza, S&P's head of fixed-income research, because so much of it has been used to wipe out other bank loans and bonds. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch data show yields on speculative-grade bonds have dropped from an average 9% at the start of the year to 8.1% on April 21.
S&P expects to see the spread between U.S. Treasury bond yields and high-yield debt continue to shrink -- but not by much. This risk-premium is the extra yield investors demand to buy low-rated corporate bonds instead of safer Treasury debt. Using its own bond index, S&P put the spread at 5.52 percentage points on August 16. A rough estimate based on expectations of stock-market volatility (the VIX) and a projected default rate of 5% points to a spread as low as 4.75 percentage points a year from now.
Rising earnings and stronger balance sheets led S&P to reward 49 speculative-grade companies with better credit ratings in the first quarter, compared with 40 that received lower grades. In March, agricultural-equipment maker AGCO Corp ( AG - news - people ) and Canadian grain processor Viterra made the jump from speculative-grade to investment grade. The rating agency calls such companies rising stars.
Among the 16 companies and countries that S&P says are potential rising stars: Tupperware Brands ( TUP - news - people ), packaging company Silgan Holdings ( SLGN - news - people ), investment fund manager Janus Capital Group ( JNS - news - people ) and Canadian miner Teck Resources ( TCK - news - people ).
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| Stuff to look at |
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S&P Commentary and Newsletters: S&P
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| BondsOnline Advisor |
Income Security Recommendation January 2013 Issue.
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