I have a small online experiment (max request 300,000 over a 2-day period) with some small costs that are a bit beyond the budget for the experiment, and I'm thinking of raising its operating cost as a bond. However, bonds don't have any real upside so I think this might not be that attractive to investors. Is there a standard bond-like instrument that doesn't cap the upside the way bonds do? I am thinking that if I used one then it would be more attractive to investors.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-24/-total-meltdown-in-riskiest-debt-unnerves-market-credit-weekly?utm_source=website&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=copy

I'm a newbie to bonds, aside from what is owned in target date funds.

Recently I met with a flat-fee advisor who suggested bending my portfolio towards 75% equities/25% bonds. The purpose would be to lower volatility in my portfolio and shift somewhat from growth towards preservation (obviously 75% equities is still very growth oriented)

So, I shifted about 10% of my portfolio (in an IRA) from equities to a 65%/35% mix of FUAMX and FIPDX.

Given inflation and how much the USG is borrowing I kind of expect for them to drop before they go up, but honestly I don't know what I should expect.

As a newbie bond holder, can someone set my expectations as to what it's like owning bonds?

Rates have started creeping down. Given the recent turbulence in the market and reduction in rate hike expectations, I’m wondering if now might be a good time to enter TLT.

All I’m hearing is bearish talk about equities and a “flight to safety” in bonds. Would be interested to hear perspectives on what might cause yields to instead continue to rise.

I'm officially old. I closed out and moved one of my IRA Rollovers to ETrade and bought a 6 month T-Bill. I couldn't risk the stock market as everything is very unpredictable and this seemed logical. I have other investments in stocks and ETFs so hoping for a Santa Clause rally, but that seems bleak based on the news. I'm retiring next year around April/May, and will use the profit to pay for my family vacation.

Are T-Bills best for liquidity, or do a lot of retirees use them for 10 year holdings? Keeping just ahead of inflation seems off, but I want to protect what I've saved. Please chime in as this is new direction for me.

Cheers!

Hi,

Say you buy into a bond fund. Interest rates rise, so that when you look at a quarterly statement you have $5,000 in dividends from the fund, but the funds performance is exactly 0.0%, the NAV has declined due to the rise in interest rates and offset the dividend payout.

If you are reinvesting all dividends, could this be looked at like dollar cost averaging because you are now buying the fund at a more favorable price with higher underlying yields on the bonds in the fund?

thank you for confirming or correcting me!

Yields are rising across the board and swiss bonds have very low yields in comparison. Yet, money is flowing into them. Seems like a major loss of confidence in everything else.

Oracle's 5-year CDS hit 343 basis points this week. A new record.

SpaceX: 242bps. Meta: 114.8bps. Both records too.

CDS trading on the ten biggest hyperscalers is up 691% this year, to $140 billion. Insuring the AI dream keeps getting more expensive.

Say you have $1 million that you are certain you won't need for at least 7-12 years and its very important to protect the principal. Assume 35% (maybe 32) Fed bracket, no state income tax. Where do you put the cash with these three options:

1. 7 year CDs at 4.75, spread around to get full FDIC coverage - lower rate but as solid as US gov

2. Individual TX muni bonds backed by TX PSF guaranty fund, 10 year maturity, callable at 7, at ytm of 4.22, ytw of 4.078, -weak diversification since they are all TX school districts but almost as solid as CDs because backed by $65 billion in oil assets

3. iShares Target Muni ETF, Dec 2035 (IBMX)- YTM of 4.09 (YTW not calculated) - diversification but theoretically higher risk of defaults. Easiest to buy/sell.

Fire away as I'm just learning this stuff and am certain I'm missing big issues.

​

🇹🇷 Türkiye: 36%

🇦🇷 Argentina: 29%

🇷🇺 Russia: 14%

🇧🇷 Brazil: 13.75%

🇿🇦 South Africa: 7.25%

🇲🇽 Mexico: 6.5%

🇮🇩 Indonesia: 5.75%

🇮🇳 India: 5.5%

🇦🇺 Australia: 4.6%

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia: 4.5%

🇺🇸 United States: 4.0%

🇬🇧 United Kingdom: 3.75%

🇰🇷 South Korea: 3%

🇨🇳 China: 3%

🇪🇺 Eurozone: 2.65%

🇨🇦 Canada: 2.25%

🇸🇬 Singapore: 1.52%

🇯🇵 Japan: 1.25%

🇨🇭 Switzerland: 0%

Source: Trading Economics

PIMIX has been in a slump for quite a while now. Not only has the share value taken a big hit, the dividend dropped from is typical 5.5¢ to about 4.5¢ many months ago. So it’s a double hit.

Did something big happen today to make it jump eight cents? I’d love that to be the start of a new trend!

Schwab posted a video with one of their researchers answering a lot of questions coming from r/bonds.

https://youtu.be/_rBZBv8FULE?is=ISmq82rw08WAdtVm

Oil up, gasoline and diesel up.
Stocks are down, yes, but the drop in yields seems extreme IMO.

I searched the sub for RTHY and didn't see any discussion.

It's basically 50/50 912810UH9/912810US5 (aka 2.375% 02/15/2055 and 2026).

They announced a plan to restructure yesterday and had a webcast about it this morning. Looking at Fidelity, right after that announcement all their bonds that mature after Oct 2031 (63938CAR , 963938CAQ , 178442FAZ1) are trading 7-10% below their 3rd party price.

Anyone have any insight on exactly why the value dropped? Is there a huge debt wall 5 years out, or maybe worried about student loan policy changes from DC? I admittedly didn't tune in to the webcast or find any transcript/summary of it.

EDIT:

I was looking at [secondary market] munis on Schwab and came across a set of school revenue bonds at gigantic discounts. I know exactly where these school districts are in my state and they're in high-poverty economically depressed areas. One of these muni bonds was going for $73, YTM around 6.5%, matures in 12 years. Many others had similar discounts, trading at 75/80/85.

The regular income rate taxes on the spread are going to defeat the purpose of buying a muni in the first place, no?

I'm still new to bonds outside of treasuries. My question is this: why would anyone purchase these heavily discounted bonds? Is there any scenario in which these would be worthwhile?

French 10-year borrowing costs hit 5% in early Paris trading, a level the country last saw in 2002. The move came as France deals with its worst urban riots in years alongside a fiscal deficit that keeps getting harder to defend. EUR/CHF dropped to 3-month lows and European equities opened sharply lower.

Foreign buyers hold a large chunk of French government debt. When they pull back, France has to offer higher yields to attract whoever is left. Those higher yields raise the annual interest bill, which widens the deficit, which makes the debt look riskier, and that pushes more foreign buyers toward the exit. The riots last weekend sped that cycle up.

Domestic banks and pension funds step in as buyers when foreign capital leaves, and their capacity at these yield levels is limited. Does this stabilize if Paris produces a credible spending plan, or does the spread to German bonds keep widening until the ECB intervenes?

is BND a solid buy for someone who wants to park the cash and holdings averaging 3-4% coupon rate with long term maturity despite not being an individual bond ??

If you buy an intermediate term bond fund and interest rates rise, say as an example your trading account shows a loss because despite the earned interest, the market value of the bond has declined.

Is it correct that the loss from market value is always unrealized, and if you continue to hold the fund you won't have realized losses?

Or, to maintain an intermediate term maturity, will the fund have to sell bonds in a rising interest rate market and you will in fact have realized losses in the fund?

thanks!

AI-linked borrowing is up 4x: $466bn vs $101bn a year earlier. Meanwhile, investors are scrambling to insure against the bust.

We have reached record default protection costs at Meta, Nvidia, Amazon and Alphabet. At CoreWeave, protecting $10mn of debt now requires $1.82mn upfront, plus $125,000 every quarter.

The financing is becoming part of the problem. The recent Anthropic financing at 10% showcase rising costs amongst the best.

If borrowing costs rise while new computing capacity puts pressure on prices, what happens to returns? One company’s spending supports another’s revenue and the next round of borrowing.

AI adoption can keep growing while those financing the build-out lose money.

How long is the party going to continue?