Duration: Understanding the Relationship Between Bond Prices and Interest Rates - Fidelity

The longer the term to maturity, the higher the interest rate tends to be, and the less volatile a bond's market price tends to be. Also, the further a. When investing in bonds, it is sometimes tempting to go for longer-term bonds with higher yields. The price or market value of an investment bond is based on the rate of interest the bond pays -- called the coupon rate -- compared to the current market yield for similar bonds. Interest rates and bond prices have an inverse relationship; so when one goes illustration assumes a 7% coupon, $1, face value, and a year maturity.

Duration is similar to maturity but is a measure of the cash flow of a bond: Calculating duration is complicated, but you can get the information from your broker or on the website of a bond fund. The duration number tells you how much the bond price will change for a 1 percent change in interest rates.

So a bond with a duration of five years will drop in value by 5 percent if market rates go up 1 percent.

The Relation Between Time to Maturity & Bond Price Volatility | Finance - Zacks

A longer-term bond will have a bigger duration number than a short-term bond. Risks and Gains The risk of bond volatility depends on which way interest rates are moving. If rates are falling, it is better to own long-term bonds, because higher volatility means higher bond prices.

Volatility in this case is the amount a bond's price changes in response to a specific change in interest rates.

Relationship Between Bond Price & Yield to Maturity

Bond Duration The mathematical concept of bond duration can be used as a measure of the volatility or risk of a bond. Duration is similar to maturity but is a measure of the cash flow of a bond: Calculating duration is complicated, but you can get the information from your broker or on the website of a bond fund.

Explaining Bond Prices and Bond Yields

The duration number tells you how much the bond price will change for a 1 percent change in interest rates. So a bond with a duration of five years will drop in value by 5 percent if market rates go up 1 percent. A longer-term bond will have a bigger duration number than a short-term bond.

Credit risk refers to the possibility that the company or government entity that issued a bond will default and be unable to pay back investors' principal or make interest payments. Bonds issued by the U. However, Treasury bonds as well as other types of fixed income investments are sensitive to interest rate risk, which refers to the possibility that a rise in interest rates will cause the value of the bonds to decline.

The Relation Between Time to Maturity & Bond Price Volatility

Bond prices and interest rates move in opposite directions, so when interest rates fall, the value of fixed income investments rises, and when interest rates go up, bond prices fall in value.

If rates rise and you sell your bond prior to its maturity date the date on which your investment principal is scheduled to be returned to youyou could end up receiving less than what you paid for your bond.

Similarly, if you own a bond fund or bond exchange-traded fund ETFits net asset value will decline if interest rates rise. The degree to which values will fluctuate depends on several factors, including the maturity date and coupon rate on the bond or the bonds held by the fund or ETF.

Using a bond's duration to gauge interest rate risk While no one can predict the future direction of interest rates, examining the "duration" of each bond, bond fund, or bond ETF you own provides a good estimate of how sensitive your fixed income holdings are to a potential change in interest rates.

Investment professionals rely on duration because it rolls up several bond characteristics such as maturity date, coupon payments, etc.

Duration is expressed in terms of years, but it is not the same thing as a bond's maturity date. That said, the maturity date of a bond is one of the key components in figuring duration, as is the bond's coupon rate.

In the case of a zero-coupon bond, the bond's remaining time to its maturity date is equal to its duration. When a coupon is added to the bond, however, the bond's duration number will always be less than the maturity date.

The larger the coupon, the shorter the duration number becomes.

Generally, bonds with long maturities and low coupons have the longest durations.