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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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| More |
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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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Ignore the Hype About Municipal Bond Defaults |
US News - April 28, 2011 - By DANIEL SOLIN
Many investors think the municipal bond market is about to implode. Respected analyst Meredith Whitney predicted on 60 Minutes that massive defaults by the states “are the largest threat to the U.S. economy”. So, is it time to dump your municipal bond holdings ahead of the impending crash?
[See 10 Ways to Boost Your Social Security Checks.]
Not according to Byran Harris, senior editor at Dimensional Fund Advisors. Harris decries the simplistic analysis that treats the municipal bond market as a single structure. It isn’t. It consists of $3 trillion in debt, with over 50,000 state and local issuers, making broad generalizations about defaults unreliable and misleading.
While the past does not predict the future, it is noteworthy that the default rate of highly rated municipal bonds is exceedingly low. From 1970 to 2008, no municipal bond rated Aaa by Moody’s defaulted. The default rate of bonds rated investment grade by Moody’s was only 0.07 percent.
The bad publicity about municipal bonds is centered on the fiscal woes of Arizona, California, Illinois, New York, and Texas. Making broad extrapolations about defaults based on the problems of these relatively few states is unwarranted.
It’s telling that the market does not perceive increased risk in municipal bond investments. Whitney’s prediction was widely disseminated. If there was a consensus among bond traders that defaults were imminent, you would expect bond yields to rise. The opposite has occurred. Since November 2007, average yields for bonds rated AAA-, AA-, and BBB have fallen. Betting against the wisdom of the market is generally a bad idea.
For the complete article.
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| Stuff to look at |
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| BondsOnline Advisor |
Income Security Recommendation January 2013 Issue.
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