Search results

Imbatman - I took a look at those Maryland bonds (MONTGOMERY CNTY MD HSG OPPTYS COMMN REV 2023C). I think Fidelity is correct, and there is no special redemption. It looks like the bond funds some kind of headquarters building and is not for housing, so there is no need for the normal special...

I don't really understand how sinks work in real life. My little bit of research shows that they are bond-specific and can have a variety of implementations. That said, njhowie is right about the yield-to-sink NOT being considered in YTW. Fidelity itself says so. I assume the mechanics of...

njhowie, can you give an example? I have never seen that happen....!

Current yield is what you earn yearly from interest payments. In this case, it's 3.8% of par price ($3.80 per $100 bond) divided by purchase price ($73.5ish). 3.8/73.5 = 5.17% Hope that helps!

Here is the screen shot. I imagine it also means the bond is less likely to get called early?

Much clearer at Schwab. See YTC.

Yup. I have been confused about that, too. Fidelity actually doesn't give you the last calculation you need - yield to call (YTC). In the case of 915455NB1, YTM and YTW are the same because maturity IS the worst case. Any earlier call will give a higher yield, and the sooner the call, the...

Thanks for an interesting article (not that I understood it all). I don't put a lot of faith in the insurance. The way I understand it, insurance indicates an issuer that wasn't strong enough to go it alone. That said, if the relative yield is good enough, and the insurance gives some extra...

Interesting. For 34074MW49, the stated the yield-to-sink is -5.48%, so it's not like the risk is hidden! I guess buyers are betting the chance they get redeemed early on ALL their position is pretty small, and are willing to risk that in trade for a higher average return overall than is...

Thanks for the RJ newsletter. I have seen earlier editions of it and do find their sample portfolios modestly interesting, but generally the info is pretty generic. I have yet to find any reliable, professional discussion/opinion/newsletters on munis. The few people posting here seem to know as...

I bet the red is the bid (the price someone is willing to pay to buy this bond from a seller. Often, there is no bid price.) The price you'd pay to buy is the ask - it's a little higher and the difference between the two is called the spread, which is more or less the profit the dealer would...

Yup, i cut my participation request for those CT munis in half yesterday when I got the email with the yield reduction. The 5.4% actually got reduced to 5.35% even before the participation window closed, then repriced down again. With long treasury yields up so much over the past few weeks, I...

Yup, the Fidelity High Net Worth Bond Desk that I am lucky enough to have access to. They seem to know what they're talking about, so I try to learn a little each time I talk to them.

The bond desk told me that in-state buyers get priority on new issues . NH does have a tax on interest and div, so 4.95% would be pretty attractive these days. Also, I wonder whether it was a smaller total dollar amount issue, so it got snapped up? I do find it odd that you have to commit to...

Let me see if i can make this any clearer (to myself as well!) Buying at a premium means the value of the bond is less likely to be negatively affected by falling into de minimus territory. A premium bond should hold value relatively better than a par bond in a rising rate environment if you...

I don't think it's the gain that determines the threshold, but instead the discount price (i.e. how far below $100 (par) price) you paid on the secondary market. See this from the Municipal Rulemaking Board (part of EMMA)...

Every new issue I have bought have been at $100 (par, which doesn't change on the repricing). The actual interest rate is what changes (e.g. from 4.6 to 4.5%). The new issues over par have a correspondingly higher interest rate (to compensate you for paying $100 + $x and only getting $100 back...

I'll be curious to see if they get repriced after closing. Virtually all of the new muni issues I've bought in the last year have been repriced a day or so after the order period closes, usually with a drop in yield of .05-.1%. And the only notification is by email (usually in the...

Speaking of housing bonds, does anybody have insight or, better yet, a good data source on how often housing bonds are redeemed/called earlier than the official first call (usually 2032-33 on new issues these days), due to early mortgage payoffs or lack of demand or whatever internal mechanisms...

And taxable at ordinary income rates due to the de minimus rule.

True. I have only bought at par (new issue) or modestly below. These days, I don't see much in the muni world priced above par. The bigger problem is deep discount/low coupon which results a a big portion of the yield being taxable.

Anybody buying long new-issue housing bonds? Currently, IL and CT new issues are available now. Yields at 4.5-4.75% are as good or better than anything in the secondary market for the equivalent credit and duration. If you live in a state with an income tax (I do - CT) and can get one from...

I don't think the document is wrong. What is wrong is the idea that ANY gain on a bond held for more than a year bond is ALWAYS taxed at capital gains rates. If you buy at a deep enough discount (lower than the di minimis threshold of .25% per year left to maturity, call, or sale), any gain (up...

The discount doesn't have to be very deep (.25% per year to maturity) to end up being taxed at ordinary income rates (for municipal bonds only, though, not corporate). I'm with Echard - it is all really confusing. Here is a reasonably thorough but still understandable explanation. However, I...

I too have never seen all blanks like that, even on holidays when the bond market is closed. It's has been like that since at least early this morning. Etrade does show yields, but with some notable blanks in corporates. Odd, at best...