One of the most important asset classes for investors are fixed-income securities that consist of debt obligations, or bonds, and preferred stock. In simple terms, a fixed-income security is a financial obligation in which the borrower agrees to pay specified sum of money at specified dates. This transaction involves different groups that comprise the bond markets: issuers, underwriters, and purchasers The entity issuing the debt obligation is the borrower in the transaction. Some of the biggest issuers in the bond market are (1) as the U.S. government and the govenment of U.K.; (2) government-related agencies, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; (2) such 2 such as the state of Issuer Underwriter Purchaser California, Sakai City, Japan; (3) ANSWER CHOICES 3 such as British Telecom 1. Corporations, Central Governments, Supranational Banks 2. Corporations, Municipal Governments, Supranational Banks and The Walt Disney Co. and (4) 4 , such as the European Investment Bank and the World Bank Why do entities borrow in the form of debt obligations? Economies around the world were still recovering during 2012 after the 2008-2009 recession. Governments and central banks continued their efforts to facilitate economic recovery. The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed) kept 3, Corporations, Central Governments interest rates at record lows. This, along with several other reasons, found the bond markets flooded with new bond issues. The following article highlights some reasons why firms issued debt obligations to raise funds In the context of the reasons why entities borrow in the form of bond issues, which statement is correct? Check all that apply Supranational Banks 4. Corporations, Central Governments, Supranational Banks 5. A, B, C or D 6. Fall, Rise 7. Widening, Narrowing 8. Lower, Higher 9. High, Low 10. Fall, Rise 11. Increasing, Decreasing Corporate-Bond Issuers Race to the Market as U.S. Yields Approach Record Low Several bond issues-such as general obligation (GO) bonds and revenue bonds-offer federally tax-exempt income that attracts investors seeking tax-free income when bonds issued by foreign governments offer higher yields than U.S. Treasury yields corporate issuers in the United States get the opportunity to issue debt securities at low costs On April 25, 2011, the Fed announced that short-tem interest rates would be kept near zero through late 2014. Because corporate bonds are indexed to Treasury yields and the Treasury yield hit nearly all-time lows, issuing conditions became conducive for investment-grade borrowers B Europe's debt crisis fueled the demand for relatively safer U.S. securities, and the market became more confident that Europe's crisis would not significantly disrupt recovery of the C when lending money to corporations, banks often include restrictive covenants, such as maintaining a certain level of debt-to-equity ratio at all times D world's largest economy when government entities need to raise funds to finance projects, they issue debt securities in which investors are the creditors who usually earn a fixed rate of return from the borrower This triggered issuers to announce investment-grade supply benefiting from the low borrowing costs. Companies such as IBM The relationship between corporate bond yields and Treasury yields The article highlights an important relationship between the corporate bond yields and the U.S. Treasury yields. When demand for Treasuries increases, prices rise and yields 6 All else being equal, this leads to the 7 of corporate bond yields because they are riskier and their yields are 8 than U.S. Treasury yields. However, this does not necessarily imply that particular changes in the Treasury yield will lead to similar changes in the corporate bond yields. A corporate bond with a narrow yield spread and high credit rating will offera relatively 10 ,thus return when the bond is purchased. However, if the yield spread widens, the price of the bond will 11 the value of the fixed-income asset class in the investor's portfolio
