Corporate bonds are a significant source of funding for US firms. In fact, between 2000 and 2022, US firms issued almost six times more in non-convertible bonds than they did in equity. A common feature in these bonds allows issuers to repurchase them before their due date at a set price – this is known… Read More »
Municipal bonds are the primary source of financing for local governments, with the value of outstanding municipal bonds reaching $4.1 trillion as of March 2022. Historically, the default rate of these bonds has been very low. This raises the question of why so many municipal bonds have different issuance costs (yield spread), even with similar… Read More »
Corporate bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been increasing rapidly and becoming an emerging financial instrument in the past two decades. They allow investors to build low-cost bond portfolios. Investors can adjust positions in real-time instead of trading corporate bonds over the counter or investing in bond mutual funds with minimums and limits. With ETFs targeting… Read More »
Companies today are facing unprecedented pressure to make progress on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. The demand for companies to address these issues is not new, but a relatively recent development is that this demand now comes from investors, rather than activists or other stakeholders. The pressure from investors has caused many companies to… Read More »
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