Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) — Since its inception, the derivatives market has echoed the fairground hawkers’ call to “scream if you want to go faster.” Among the new derivatives, collateralized-debt obligations (CDOs) were particularly hot.
To make a CDO, bankers bundle together a package of other kinds of securities, such as corporate bonds, asset-backed securities (ABSs) or [...]

structured products, subprime, US Hide

THIS year, bond unit trust funds will continue to be an important component in an investor’s portfolio although their performance will be tied to the global economic scenario.
When the economy is weak or is heading towards a recession, bonds will generally outperform equities as investors flee for safety asset class. But during an economic growth [...]

bond funds, bonds, investments Hide

It was the age of zeroes, the epoch of naughts, an era when we started with something and added just about nothing.
At least that’s what stock market commentators have been gravely telling us for at least a year.
The 2000s, they argue, was a lost decade. And at first glance, they appear to have gotten it [...]

bonds, diversification, investment returns, investments, savings, stock market Hide

A belief that economic tumult has not completely passed and that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to make any dramatic rate moves has unexpectedly driven investors into Treasury auctions this week, bond experts say.

Sales this week of 2-, 5- and 7-year US Treasury notes fetched higher demand than many analysts anticipated. The latter two notes [...]

bonds, debt, federal reserve, investments, market, security, treasuries, US Hide

Treasuries were the worst performing sovereign debt market in 2009 as the U.S. sold $2.1 trillion of notes and bonds to fund extraordinary efforts to bolster the economy and financial markets.
Investors in U.S. debt lost 3.5 percent on average through Dec. 30, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes, the biggest annual slide since [...]

bonds, treasuries, US Hide

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the U.S. economy faces “formidable headwinds,” including a weak labor market and tight credit that are likely to produce a “moderate” pace of expansion.
“The economy confronts some formidable headwinds that seem likely to keep the pace of expansion moderate,” Bernanke, 55, said today in [...]

Interest rates, unemployment, US Hide

In a report entitled “Worst-case debt scenario”, the bank’s asset team said state rescue packages over the last year have merely transferred private liabilities onto sagging sovereign shoulders, creating a fresh set of problems.
Overall debt is still far too high in almost all rich economies as a share of GDP (350pc in the US), whether public [...]

forex, inflation, Interest rates, stock market, trading strategy, US Hide

We Brits have a unique ability to embrace pessimism. We are rarely happier than when discussing the sheer awfulness of the country’s prospects. Indeed, if anything remotely good ever happens, we usually take it as a signal that something really rather bad must be just around the corner.
In the world of investment, there is one [...]

dollar, forex, Interest rates, stock market, UK Hide