Yahoo! Finance provides delayed corporate, municipal, and treasury bond profile data from its partner, ValuBond. The inventory supplied by ValuBond contains over 12,000 secondary bond offerings, and is updated on a nightly basis. To obtain a bond profile, perform a keyword search on the front page of the Bond Center or use our Bond Screener.
Our bond profiles contain the following information:
Price
Almost all bonds have a $1,000 par value. Bond prices are almost always quoted as a percentage of par, so you will hear prices such as 99 or 101.5. These refer to the percentage of $1,000, and mean $990 and $1,015 per bond respectively. The price of a bond moves higher and lower throughout the life of a bond based on movements in general market rates, the maturity of the bond, changes to credit ratings, and other factors.
Coupon
A coupon is the stated interest rate for a bond. Most bonds have a fixed coupon that does not change during the life of the bond. Most bonds have two coupon payments per year. For example, a bond with a 5.0% coupon pays $25 twice per year, for total interest of $50, which is 5.0% of the face value of the bond (almost all bonds have a face value of $1,000).
Maturity
The maturity date of a bond is the date on which the bond will be repaid. Note that many bonds have features such as puts and calls that can cause the principal to be repaid on an earlier date.
Yield To Maturity
Yield to maturity is the calculated return on investment that an investor gets if they hold the bond to maturity. It takes into account the present value of all future cash flows, as well as any premium or discount to par that the investor pays.
Current Yield
Current yield is the rate of return an investor gets, without taking into account the value of the premium or discount of the purchase price. It is calculated by dividing the coupon by the price.
Ratings
In order to help us assess the credit worthiness of a bond issuer, there are agencies that study the financial strength of bond issuers and assign credit ratings to them. There are three major rating agencies: Moody's, Standard & Poors, and Fitch Ratings. Yahoo! Finance only displays ratings from Fitch Ratings. These agencies assign ratings to bond issues so that investors can determine the credit worthiness of an issue. For a more detailed explanation of the ratings displayed on Yahoo! Finance, please visit the Bond Screener help pages.
Coupon Payment Frequency
The pay frequency refers to the frequency that the bond pays interest. The most common pay frequency is semi-annually (twice per year), but bonds can also pay interest monthly, quarterly, annually, or at maturity.
First Coupon Date
Bonds typically pay interest twice per year on coupon payment dates. The first coupon date is the date on which the very first interest payment is made for a bond. It is relevant because bonds often have a longer or shorter than normal first payment period. When the first coupon payment has been made, the bond will likely pay every 6 months thereafter.
Industry
Corporations are often grouped by the industry to which they belong. For example, some industry groups include Financial Services, Industrials, and Transportation.
Insured
Some municipal bonds are insured as to principal and interest by large bond insurance firms. The insurance firms are generally large with considerable financial strength. Therefore, any bond that is insured by one of the major insurers carries a top credit rating from the major rating services, regardless of the issuer's credit strength.
Escrowed to Maturity
Sometimes an issuer desires to pay off a bond in order to remove the debt from its books. However, the bond might not be callable, and the issuer cannot redeem the bonds at its discretion. In this case the issuer might deposit sufficient funds with a trustee into an escrow account so that the trustee can use the funds to pay all interest and principal as they come due.
Alternative Minimum Tax
In addition to calculating regular income tax, taxpayers are also required to calculate tax liability using the AMT method. The taxpayer then pays the higher of the tax calculated by the two methods. Some municipal bonds are subject to AMT, meaning that if you pay AMT, the interest earned on these bonds is taxable under the AMT calculation. Other municipal bonds are not subject to AMT, meaning that even if you pay taxes using the AMT method, interest from non-AMT municipals are not taxable. Please consult your tax advisor for complete details, and how you might be affected by buying municipal bonds that are subject to AMT.
Call Schedule
A call schedule is a list of the dates that a bond can be called, together with the corresponding price and yield for each call date.
Quantity Available
The quantity refers to the number of bonds being offered. Note that bonds typically have a $1,000 par value, so 50 bonds means $50,000 of par value. The current actual price might be more or less than par.
Minimum Trade Quantity
In some cases, the bond offering might be for a minimum number of bonds as well. This means that you cannot buy fewer bonds than the minimum designated in the offering.
Dated Date
The dated date is the date the bond is issued and starts to accrue interest.
Settlement Date
When a bond trade takes place, the buyer and seller agree on a date when the buyer will pay for the bonds and the seller will deliver the bonds. For municipal bonds and corporate bonds, the settlement date is typically three business days after the trade date. For Treasury and Zero Coupon bonds, the settlement date is typically the next business day after the trade.
In the event you are in need of assistance with financial terminology, go to Yahoo!'s financial glossary.