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- #EF
- #T15,4,BONDS: PRICES & YIELDS
- #C3,R5
- When a large corporation wishes to borrow a very large sum of money, it may
- not be able to find a single investor or group of investors willing to lend
- the entire sum desired.
- #D2
-
- Hence, the corporation must borrow from many investors, both large and small.
- It will therefore print up in advance many promissory notes (contracts)
- which include the amount borrowed, the repayment date, the interest rate to
- be paid, and the dates of interest payments. Such a contract is called a
- ~C~Ibond.~N
- #D3
-
- To make bonds easily marketable, most bonds are unregistered and can be
- transferred from one owner to another at will. To facilitate the collection
- of interest payments, most bonds have dated coupons attached, which can be
- cashed at any bank on or after the coupon date.
- #D3
-
- Other bonds are registered to specific owners and can be transferred only by
- the consent of the issuer. This is a way to proterct the registered owner
- from theft or loss. Some registered bonds make interest payments directly
- to the registered bond owner by mail.
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- #C3,R5
- SOME SPECIAL TERMINOLOGY RELATIVE TO BONDS:
- #D1
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- ■ ~C~IFace Value:~N The amount to be borrowed. This is usually $500, $1000, $5000,
- or $10000. (Also sometimes referrred to as the "denomination").
- #D2
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- ■ ~C~IRedemption Date:~N The date on which the loan will be repaid.
- #D2
-
- ■ ~C~IRedemption Price:~N The amount that will be paid on the redemption date.
- #D2
-
- ■ ~C~IPar:~N The redemption price is almost always the same as the face value.
- If so, the bond is said to be redeemable "at par".
- #D2
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- ■ ~C~ICall Date:~N Some bonds contain a provision that allows the issuer to pay
- off the loan at a date earlier than the redemption date. This earlier date
- is called the call date.
- #D2
-
- ■ ~C~IPremium:~N If a bond contains an early payoff option, the repaid amount
- is usually more than the face value of the bond. That payoff amount is
- usually stated as a percent of the face value (eg, 105%, 110%, etcetera).
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- #C3,R5
- ~C~IBOND PRICES & YIELDS~N
-
- Obviously, a bond can be freely bought and sold among investors. Thus, the
- price of a bond is set by the market.....~W~INOT~N by the face amount of the bond.
- #D3
-
- To illustrate:
- #D1
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- Suppose that you, as an investor, wish to receive a 7% return on your invest-
- ments. If offered a bond paying 7%, you would possibly be willing to buy it
- for face value. But, if offered a bond paying 5%, you would certainly offer
- less than face value for it; and, if offered a bond paying 9%, you would al-
- most certainly offer more than face value for it.
- #D4
-
- Thus, there are almost always two interest rates associated with bonds:
-
- 1. the ~W~Ibond rate~N - the rate of interest on the bond's face value, and
-
- 2. the ~W~Iyield rate~N - the rate realized by the purchaser.
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- #C3,R5
- What all this boils down to for the potential bond investor is:
- #D1
-
- ~Y~I~z1~N ~KWhat is the right price to offer for a particular bond~k...given my
- desired investment yield?
- #D1
-
- ~Y~I~z2~N ~KWhat is the investment yield I can obtain~k...given the seller's
- specified selling price?
- #D1
-
- ~C~IThe "Bonds" module in THE FINANCIAL ASSISTANT will provide the answers
- to both of these questions...and will do so for both the redemption date
- and for the call date.~N
- #D2
-
- The program itself provides an example of the calculations. To see the
- example, just run the program using the pre-entered startup data.
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