Credit risk can describe the chance that a bond issuer may fail to make payment when requested or that an insurance company will be unable to pay a claim. 4. Credit risks are calculated based on the borrower's overall ability to repay a loan according to its original terms.
Credit risk, on the other hand, stands for a bond's risk of default. It is the chance that a portion of the principal and interest will not be paid back to investors. Individual bonds with high credit risk do well when their issuer is financially strong.
In its simplest terms, credit risk simply refers to the likelihood that a company will default on its interest payment and/or principal repayment on bonds. In the corporate debt markets, the risk of loss from bond defaults is referred to as credit risk.
Assessing Credit Risk
Credit ratings published by agencies such as Moody's, Standard and Poor's, and Fitch are meant to capture and categorize credit risk.
However, institutional investors in corporate bonds often supplement these agency ratings with their own credit analysis.
Many tools can be used to analyze and assess credit risk, but two traditional metrics are inte.
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Credit Spread: The Payoff For Assuming Credit Risk in Corporate Bonds
The payoff for assuming all these extra risks is a higher yield.
The difference between the yield on a corporate bond and a government bond is called the credit spread (sometimes just called the yield spread).
As the illustrated yield curves demonstrate, the credit spread is the difference in yield between a corporate bond and a government bond at .
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How Changes in The Credit Spread Affect The Corporate Bondholder
Predicting changes in a credit spread is difficult because it depends on both the specific corporate issuer and overall bond market conditions.
For example, a credit upgrade on a specific corporate bond, say from an S&P rating of BBB to A, will narrow the credit spread for that particular bond because the risk of default lessens.
If interest rates .
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Other Corporate Bond Risks
Investors should be aware of some other risk factors affecting corporate bonds.
Two of the most important factors are call riskand event risk.
If a corporate bond is callable, then the issuing company has the right to purchase (or pay off) the bond after a minimum time period.
If you hold a high-yielding bond and prevailing interest rates decline, .
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Review of Corporate Bond Market Yield
By yield, we mean yield to maturity, which is the total yield resulting from all coupon payments and any gains from a "built-in" price appreciation.
The current yield is the portion generated by coupon payments, which are usually paid twice a year, and it accounts for most of the yield generated by corporate bonds.
For example, if you pay $95 for a.
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What is the difference between interest rate risk and credit risk?
"Credit risk" refers to the chance that investors won't be repaid for the amount they paid in, or at least for a portion of interest and principal.
Both risks must be addressed in order to properly diversify your portfolio for the best results. "Interest rate risk" refers to the sensitivity of a bond's price to changes in current interest rates.
Investor who protests economic policies by selling bonds
A bond vigilante is a bond market investor who protests against monetary or fiscal policies considered inflationary by selling bonds, thus increasing yields.