Corporate bonds offer a series of fixed payments consisting of interest payments and face value at maturity. As so, managers of financial intermediaries like pension funds and insurance companies frequently utilize such instruments to achieve their financing objectives.

Questions for discussion:

What is assumed the interest payments can be reinvested at?

What is interest rate risk and what would happen to the price of a bond given interest rates increase?

Assume the manager of a $100 million portfolio of corporate bonds predicts interest rates will rise in the near future.

What adjustments should be made to the portfolio assuming the market has not already adjusted for this prediction?

Will a long-term zero coupon bond have more or less interest rate risk than a comparable coupon paying bond?