Book Description

This book goes behind the headlines of the Wall Street Journal to unmask the "bondholding class". Insulated from criticism by a self-serving ideology, the bondholders have redefined the indicators of economic well-being decidedly in Wall Street's favor. Created out of the fiscal folly of Reaganomics, fortified by Federal Reserve officials, and patronized by the Clinton Administration, the bondholding class invented the "Goldilocks economy" (never too hot, never too cold). As this powerful class has amassed the greatest wealth in history, ordinary Americans have been losing ground to the ensuing global financial turbulence. In a tour de force, Ray Canterbery shows how the evaporation of personal savings - "the Angels share" - is as necessary to Wall Street capitalism as it is damaging to growth and wages on Main Street. ... Read more

Book Description

Junk bonds burst into the nation's headlines as the fastest growing and most controversial financial instruments of the 1980s.Branded with an unflattering nickname, these high yield securities were tarnished in the public eye by waves of negative publicity.Critics cast the financiers and entrepreneurs who pioneered their use as symbols of a decade of greed and financial excess. By the end of the 1980s, the heyday of junk bonds had seemingly come to a close with the conviction of junk bond pioneer Michael Milken and the bankruptcy of Drexel Burnham Lambert, the brokrage that dominated the high yield market. But the controversy surrounding junk bonds continues.

Now, in Junk Bonds, business professor Glenn Yago turns the tables on conventional wisdom about this new financial technology.He offers the first systematic examination of the facts about high yield securities.His analysis provides hard evidence that demystifies junk bonds and explodes many of the popular myths that surround them.

Junk Bonds sheds light on the role of high yield financing in what Yago calls the democratization of capital. Before the advent of junk bonds, only companies with an "investment grade" rating--five percent of the 23,000 American companies with sales over $35 million--had access to long term capital.In effect, the author argues, 95 percent of American companies were denied the means to finance growth and business development.Yago shows how junk bonds changed all that, breathing life into thousands of American companies that had been shunned by the capital markets.His research demonstrates that these "junk" companies outperformed many Fortune 500 firms in job creation, product development, sales, and business innovation.

The real contribution of junk bonds, according to Yago, was to improve the productivity and competitiveness of American business by restructuring companies in the wake of the corporate conglomerations of the 1960s and 1970s.His findings show that divestitures by companies financed with high yield bonds were not necessarily destructive.Many sold-off units flourished as independent enterprises at a time when numerous "investment grade" companies stagnated or closed plants or fired workers.This restructuring of corporate America has enabled businesses to compete in a changing international environment, benefiting managers, workers, stockholders, and investors alike.

Junk Bonds provides readers with a scholarly analysis that shears away the hype and hysteria that often accompany rapid change. And at a time when Wall Street is under greater scrutiny than at any time since the Depression, this provocative study provides a timely and thoughtful contribution to the debate surrounding junk bonds. ... Read more

Book Description

Economic conditions can change dramatically over time, requiring significant changes in interest rates. Loans that appeared desirable methods of expansion when taken out can, with a change in interest rates, become massive outgoings that leave the unprepared business exposed to potentially crippling debt.

Whether borrowing, investing, saving or trading, a company will always have to take into account the cost of capital and therefore interest rate risk. The efficient management of this risk is essential for the survival of a company and any business that is exposed to such a risk should ensure that it is fully prepared to manage it.

Aimed at senior managers within businesses, this book is a practical primer on how to reduce risk from changes in interest rates.

... Read more

Book Description

If you are eager to learn just how easy it is to research and invest in bonds online, E-Bonds: An Introduction to the Online Bond Market will show you how. This concise, information-packed book provides a comprehensive overview of the marketplace and delivers the basic, yet essential facts you need to succeed in the online bond arena.

Filled with expert analysis and invaluable insights, this one-of-a-kind reference will put you in the best position possible to take advantage of the online bond market. Building on a foundation of basic bond terms and types, which are discussed in the beginning of the book, E-Bonds quickly progresses to the critical issues that will prepare you to research and invest in bonds through the Internet. This complete guide:

• Shows you how the online bond industry functions
• Discusses the issues you should consider before you start your journey, including bond returns, risks, ratings, and tax consequences
• Reveals the best Web sites to visit for free bond information, including live bond market commentary, in-depth bond research, bond calculators, and much more
• Lists specific brokerage Web sites, allowing you to get the best selection of bonds at the best available prices
• Teaches you how to purchase and sell a variety of bonds–from "munis" and treasuries to agencies and corporates
• Explores investing in bond mutual funds through the Internet

From guidelines on researching bonds to advice on executing online transactions, E-Bonds is the best way to understand and invest in the online bond market. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Disappointing
I've read this book and was disappointed. There was no new light shed on the bond market, it was simply a regurgitation of what I've read anywhere else, everywhere else. The author I suppose is a serviceable writer, not stellar by any means, but there's nothing in this book that you can't learn anywhere else for free. ... Read more

Book Description

The Bond and Money Markets: Strategy, Trading, Analysis explains and analyses all aspects of the bond and money markets and is both an introduction for newcomers and an advanced text for experienced market practitioners and graduate students. Those with experience of the industry at all levels will find the book invaluable as a standard reference work.

The book features coverage of:

* Government and Corporate bonds, Eurobonds, callable bonds, convertibles
* Asset-backed bonds including mortgages and CDOs
* Derivative instruments including bond futures, swaps, options, structured products, and option valuation models
* Interest-rate risk, duration analysis, convexity, and the convexity bias
* The money markets, repo markets, basis trading, and asset / liability management
* Term structure models, estimating and interpreting the yield curve
* Portfolio management, including total return framework, portfolio strategies, and constructing bond indices

and valuable insight into:

* Trading and hedging strategy
* Charting and technical analysis
* The latest market developments, such as value-at-risk, and credit derivatives
* Emerging markets and the benefits of international investment

The Bond and Money Markets: Strategy, Trading, Analysis is aimed at a wide readership including bond salespersons, traders, corporate financiers and graduate trainees, as well as risk managers, operations professionals and business analysts. Other market participants including fund managers, corporate treasurers, management consultants, regulators and financial journalists will also find the content useful.

This book is virtually a stand alone reference book on interest rate swaps, the money markets, financial market mathematics, interest-rate futures and technical analysis
Includes some introductory coverage of very specialised topics (for which one requires specialised texts) such as VaR, Asset & liability management, credit derivatives
Combines accessible style with advanced level topics, plus review of latest research ... Read more

Reviews (15)

The fixed income benchmark
This is the benchmark book on bonds and fixed income, it is very comprehensive and very reader-friendly. What I like about it is it covers everything. If I did not have this one book I would need 5 or 6 others instead. It covers bonds,pricing, duration, risk management, swaps, futurers, options, yield curve modelling, fund management, charting, and a whole lot more.As one endorsment says on the back: an encylopedia on bonds written like a thriller! Very good buy.

The only book you need on bonds and derivatives
Anyone with an interest in debt capital markets will still be referring to this book many years after purchasing it.

In-depth and original - great reference
This is an enclopaedic reference work on bonds and money markets, but written like a thriller. Oustanding work, great value and highly recommended to banker or student.

Great book on bonds and debt
Whatever you want to know on bonds is in this book. Buy it - great value.

The Market Clearinghouse
This book has some good information in it, but the problem is that it is not new information and seems highly derivative of earlier works. Those books happen to be chiefly by U.S. authors, but that is probably because the number of financial books written in English tends to be by U.S. writers, although several strong UK writers have made significant contriutions.

Whatever the phobic concerns of the reviewer below, there is no conspiracy among book buyers to avoid this author's work. The marketplace voted based on its perception of value-added.

It is sad when one cannot tolerate the treatment one is content to mete out to others. The only way to change that is to refrain from doing unto others what one does not want to have done to oneself. Smart people stop negative behaviors and suddenly life becomes much more enjoyable. ... Read more

Book Description

This work illuminates to what extent rights of priority among different classes of creditors have been established in the course of the reorganizations of the debts of insolvent states. ... Read more

Book Description

Based on the events surrounding the rapid growth of bond markets in East Asia, this provides useful and practical information on eight bond markets. ... Read more

Book Description

Real world investors differ in their tastes and attitudes and they do not have, in general, perfect information about the future prospects of the economy. Most theoretical models, however, assume to the contrary that investors are homogeneous and perfectly informed about the market. In this book, an attempt is made to overcome these shortcomings. In three different case studies, the effect of heterogeneous time preferences, heterogeneous beliefs and imperfect information about the economy's growth on the term structure of interest rates are studied. The initial chapter gives an introduction to the theory of financial markets in continuous time under imperfect information and establishes the existence of an equilibrium with complete markets. ... Read more

Book Description

Providing the expertise of an internal business consultant to one of the largest issuers of mortgage securities, Investing in Mortgage Securities serves as a high-level introduction to mortgage securities presented within the framework of fixed income securities. It presents institutional investors, portfolio managers, traders, and sophisticated individual investors with a clear, concise, and unified approach to valuing, pricing, and investing in mortgage securities. The author supplies a complete explanation of all types of mortgages, fixed income securities, and highlights the differences between bonds, mortgages, and mortgage derivatives. The text walks you through all the necessary steps, including worked out mathematical examples, to ensure that you make the best buy and sell decisions possible. It also contains exercises to help you test your knowledge before making significant investment decisions. ... Read more

Book Description

Bond covenants-designed to control conflicts of interest between shareholders and bondholders-are important because lack of adequate protection can erode bondholder value. This monograph investigates whether existing covenants are adequate or whether they have lost value as a result of factors that assumed prominence during the leveraged-buyout era. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Interest rate volatility has spawned a huge increase in the issuances of option-embedded bonds. Comprising a variety of structures including: callable bonds, structured notes, and convertible securities, option-embedded bonds confer benefits to both borrowers and investors. For borrowers, these products usually provide protection against interest rate risk. For investors, they typically provide higher yields than conventional bonds are oftentimes difficult to value. Option Embedded Bonds describes how to analyze and value these important new instruments, as well as investment strategies to maximize returns. Specific topics include: The marketplace for option-embedded bonds; Callable bonds, putable bonds, structured notes, convertibles, caps, and floors; Decomposing complex bonds into their component parts. Modeling the performance of option-embedded bonds; Valuation approaches. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A good standard reference work
This is a handy reference guide for those who wish the more technical aspects of bonds laid out in accessible fashion.A good buy.

Poor Introductory Text
This text can hardly qualify as a reference for any purpose. It is not technical enough for academics and scholars and not accurate enough for practitioners. It is utterly useless save some funny typos, such as internet rates instead of interest rates.
There are better alternatives from Fabozzi, Tuckman and Jarrow.

Very good overview book of fixed income securities
This is a high-quality book on fixed income securities, it combines institutional details as well as bond maths and analysis. There is a good intro to mathematical concepts for beginners. Especially useful is the bibliography at the end of each chapter, whch details further reading, but has the author's personal run-down of each recommended title. This is helpful for further research. The book is also very good value-for-money. Highly recommended.... ... Read more

Book Description

Within a few years of their liberation from Spanish rule in the 1820s, several of the new Spanish American republics floated loans in London's financial market. All the debtor nations, from Mexico to Chile, had defaulted within five years, a situation which resulted in their exclusion from European capital markets for much of the 19th century. Most studies of such debt approach the subject from the debtor's viewpoint, some arguing that the British government was an economic imperialist. Concentrating on Mexico, this book provides an important corrective, focusing on the creditors, the individual investors who risked their money to buy bonds. These investors ranged from country clergy to politicians of the rank of Benjamin Disraeli. ... Read more