The refers to the interest payment, or payments, on the bond. Suppose you read an article about the Royal Bank bonds. It includes the following information: Royal Bank Dated 12-15-2010 3.125% Due 12-15-204099.949 What is the maturity date of this bond? O 12-15-2040 O 12-15-2010 If the coupon interest rate remains constant from the time of issue until the bond matures, then the bond is called a bond. fixed-rate floating-rate A bond issuer is said to be in if it does not pay the interest or the principal in accordance with the terms of the indenture agreement or if it violates one or more of the issue's restrictive covenants. Issuers can gradually reduce the outstanding balance of a bond issue by using a sinking fund account into which they deposit a specified amount of money each year. To operationalize the sinking fund provision of an indenture, issuers can (1) purchase a portion of the debt in the open market or (2) call the bonds if they contain a call provision Under what circumstances would a firm be more likely to buy the required number of bonds in the open market as opposed to using one of the other procedures? When interest rates are lower than they were when the bonds were issued When interest rates are higher than they were when the bonds were issued