Zero Coupon Bonds

What is a zero coupon bond?

The term "zero coupon" refers to a debt instrument that does not make coupon payments, but, rather, is issued at a discount to par and redeemed at par at maturity. (Source: CFTC)

Zero coupon bonds are bonds that do not pay interest during the life of the bonds. Instead, investors buy zero coupon bonds at a deep discount from their face value, which is the amount a bond will be worth when it "matures" or comes due. When a zero coupon bond matures, the investor will receive one lump sum equal to the initial investment plus interest that has accrued.

The maturity dates on zero coupon bonds are usually long-term—many don’t mature for ten, fifteen, or more years. These long-term maturity dates allow an investor to plan for a long-range goal, such as paying for a child’s college education. With the deep discount, an investor can put up a small amount of money that can grow over many years.

Investors can purchase different kinds of zero coupon bonds in the secondary markets that have been issued from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Treasury, corporations, and state and local government entities.

Because zero coupon bonds pay no interest until maturity, their prices fluctuate more than other types of bonds in the secondary market. In addition, although zero coupon bonds do not pay any interest until they mature, investors may still have to pay federal, state, and local income tax on the imputed or "phantom" interest that accrues each year. Some investors avoid paying the imputed tax by buying municipal zero coupon bonds (if they live in the state where the bond was issued) or purchasing the few corporate zero coupon bonds that have tax-exempt status. (Source: SEC)

Zero coupon bonds are bonds which do not pay periodic interest payments, or so-called "coupons". Zero coupon bonds are purchased at a discount from their value at maturity. The holder of a zero coupon bond is entitled to receive a single payment, usually of a specified sum of money at a specified time in the future. Some zero coupon bonds are inflation indexed, so the amount of money that will be paid to the bond holder is calculated to have a set amount of purchasing power rather than a set amount of money, but the majority of zero coupon bonds pay a set amount of money known as the face value of the bond.

In contrast, an investor who has a regular bond receives income from coupon payments, which are usually made semi-annually. The investor also receives the principal or face value of the investment when the bond matures.

Zero coupon bonds may be long or short term investments. Long-term zero coupon maturity dates typically start at ten to fifteen years. The bonds can be held until maturity or sold on secondary bond markets.

Short term zero coupon bond generally have maturities of less than one year and are called bills. The U.S. Treasury bill market is the most active and liquid debt market in the world. (Source: Wikipedia)

Yield Curve

The yield curve is a graphic representation of market yield for a fixed income security plotted against the maturity of the security. The yield curve is positive when long-term rates are higher than short-term rates. (Source: CFTC)

In finance, the yield curve is the relation between the interest rate (or cost of borrowing) and the time to maturity of the debt for a given borrower in a given currency. For example, the current U.S. dollar interest rates paid on U.S. Treasury securities for various maturities are closely watched by many traders, and are commonly plotted on a graph such as the one on the right which is informally called "the yield curve." More formal mathematical descriptions of this relation are often called the term structure of interest rates.

The yield of a debt instrument is the annualized percentage increase in the value of the investment. For instance, a bank account that pays an interest rate of 4% per year has a 4% yield. In general the percentage per year that can be earned is dependent on the length of time that the money is invested. For example, a bank may offer a "savings rate" higher than the normal checking account rate if the customer is prepared to leave money untouched for five years. Investing for a period of time t gives a yield Y(t). This function Y is called the yield curve.

Y is often, but not always, an increasing function of t. Yield curves are used by fixed income analysts, who analyze bonds and related securities, to understand conditions in financial markets and to seek trading opportunities. Economists use the curves to understand economic conditions.The yield curve function Y is actually only known with certainty for a few specific maturity dates, the other maturities are calculated by interpolation.

Yield curves are usually upward sloping asymptotically; the longer the maturity, the higher the yield, with diminishing marginal growth. There are two common explanations for this phenomenon. First, it may be that the market is anticipating a rise in the risk-free rate. If investors hold off investing now, they may receive a better rate in the future. Therefore, under the arbitrage pricing theory, investors who are willing to lock their money in now need to be compensated for the anticipated rise in rates — thus the higher interest rate on long-term investments.

However, interest rates can fall just as they can rise. Another explanation is that longer maturities entail greater risks for the investor (i.e. the lender). Risk premium should be paid, since with longer maturities, more catastrophic events might occur that impact the investment. This explanation depends on the notion that economy faces more uncertainties in the distant future than in the near term, and the risk of future adverse events (such as default and higher short-term interest rates) is higher than the chance of future positive events (such as lower short-term interest rates). This effect is referred to as the liquidity spread. If the market expects more volatility in the future, even if interest rates are anticipated to decline, the increase in the risk premium can influence the spread and cause an increasing yield.

The opposite situation — short-term interest rates higher than long-term — also can occur. For instance, at November 2004, the yield curve for UK Government bonds (i.e. the bonds which the UK Government issues to borrow money - see gilts) was partially inverted. The yield for the 10 year bond stood at 4.68% but only 4.45% on the thirty year bond. The market's anticipation of falling interest rates causes such incidents. Negative liquidity premiums can exist, specifically if long-term investors dominate the market, but the prevailing view is that positive liquidity premium dominates, so only the anticipation of falling interest rates will cause an inverted yield curve. Strongly inverted yield curves have historically preceded economic depressions.

The yield curve may also be flat or hump-shaped, due to anticipated interest rates being steady, or short-term volatility outweighing long-term volatility.

Yield curves move on a daily basis; representing the market's reaction to news. A further "stylized fact" observed is that yield curves tend to move in parallel. That is, an increase in the cost of borrowing money for one year is frequently accompanied by a similar shift at points further along the curve.

Types of Yield Curve

There is no single yield curve describing the cost of money for everybody. The most important factor in determining a yield curve is the currency in which it is denominated. The economic situation of the countries and companies using each currency is primary in determining the yield curve. For example the sluggish economic growth of Japan throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s has meant the yen yield curve is very low (rising from virtually zero at the three month point to only 2% at the 30 year point). By contrast the British pound curve ranges from 4-5% along its curve.

Different institutions borrow money at different rates, depending on their creditworthiness. The yield curves corresponding to the bonds issued by governments in their own currency are called the government bond yield curve (government curve). Banks with high credit ratings (Aa/AA or above) borrow money from each other at the LIBOR rates. These yield curves are typically a little higher than government curves. They are the most important and widely used in the financial markets, and are known variously as the LIBOR curve or the swap curve. The construction of the swap curve is described below.

Besides the government curve and the LIBOR curve there are corporate (company) curves. These are constructed from the yields of bonds issued by corporates. As corporates have lower creditworthiness than governments and most large banks these yields are typically higher. Corporate yield curves are often quoted in terms of a "credit spread" over the relevant swap curve. For instance the five-year yield curve point for Vodafone might be quoted as LIBOR +0.25%, where 0.25% (often written as 25bps or 25 basis points) is the credit spread.

Normal Yield Curve

Through most of the post-Great Depression era to present the yield curve has been called "normal" when yields rise as maturity lengthens, that is, when the slope of the yield curve is positive. This positive slope reflects investor expectations for the economy to grow in the future and, importantly, for this growth to be associated with a greater risk that inflation rises in the future than falls. This expectation for higher inflation in the future than the present generates both an expectation that the central bank will tighten monetary policy by raising short term interest rates in the future to slow economic growth and dampen inflationary pressure and the need for a risk premium associated with the uncertainty about the future rate of inflation and the risk this poses to the future value of cash flows. Investors price these risks into the yield curve by demanding higher yields for maturities further into the future.

However, "normal" being associated with a positive slope has not always been the norm. Through much of the 19th century and early 20th century the US economy experienced trend growth with persistent deflation, not inflation. During this period the yield curve was typically inverted, reflecting the fact that deflation made current cash flows more valuable than future cash flows. During this period of persistent deflation, a 'normal' yield curve was negatively sloped.

Steep Yield Curve

Historically, the 20-year Treasury bond yield has averaged approximately two percentage points above that of three-month Treasury bills. In situations when this gap increases (e.g. 20-year Treasury yield rises relatively higher than the three-month Treasury yield), the economy is expected to improve quickly in the future. This type of curve can be seen at the beginning of an economic expansion (right after the end of a recession). Here, economic stagnation will have depressed short-term interest rates; however, rates begin to rise once the demand for capital is re-established by growing economic activity.

Flat or Humped Yield Curve

A flat curve is apparent when all maturities have same yields, whereas a humped curve results when short-term and long-term yields are equal and mid-term yields vary from those of the short-term and long-term. A flat curve sends signals of uncertainty in the economy. This mixed signal can revert back to a normal curve or could later result into an inverted curve.It cannot be explained by the Segmented Market theory.

Inverted Yield Curve

An inverted curve occurs when long-term yields fall below short-term yields. Under this abnormal and contradictory situation, long-term investors will settle for lower yields now if they think the economy will slow or even decline in the future. An inverted curve may indicate a worsening economic situation in the future. In addition to potentially signalling an economic decline, inverted yield curves also imply that the market believes inflation will remain low. This is because, even if there is a recession, a low bond yield will still be offset by low inflation. However, technical factors such as a flight-to-quality or global economic or currency situations may cause demand for bonds on the long end of the yield curve causing rates to fall. This was seen in 1998 during the Long Term Capital Management failure when there was a slight inversion on part of the curve. (Source: Wikipedia)

Key Terms: Bonds, Bond Markets, Bond Yield, Yield Curve

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Treasury Securities

What are Treasury Securities?

Treasury Bills (or T-Bills) are short-term zero coupon US government obligations, generally issued with various maturities of up to one year.

Treasury Bonds (or T-Bonds) are long-term (more than ten years) obligations of the US government that pay interest semiannually until they mature, at which time the principal and the final interest payment is paid to the investor.

Treasury Notes are the same as Treasury Bonds except that Treasury Notes are medium-term (more than one year but not more than ten years). (Source: CFTC)

Treasury securities—including Treasury bills, notes, and bonds—are debt obligations issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Treasury securities are considered one of the safest investments because they are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. The income from Treasury securities is exempt from state and local taxes, but not from federal taxes. (Source: SEC)

Stock Splits

What is a stock split?

When a company declares a stock split, the price of the stock will decrease, but the number of shares will increase proportionately. For example, if you own 100 shares of a company that trades at $100 a share and it declares a two for one stock split, you will own a total of 200 shares at $50 a share after the split. A stock split has no effect on the value of what shareholders own. If the company pays a dividend, your dividends paid per share will also fall proportionately.

Companies often split their stock when they believe the price of their stock exceeds the amount smaller individual investors would be willing to pay for the stock. By reducing the price of the stock, companies try to make their stock more affordable to these investors.

Although many stock splits are two for one, companies can split their stock in any number of ways, including three for one, three for two, and so forth. A stock that has split in the last 52 weeks will be identified in newspaper stock columns with an "S" next to the company's name. (Source: SEC)

Stock split refers to a corporate action that increases the number of shares in a public company. The price of the shares are adjusted such that the before and after market capitalization of the company remains the same and dilution does not occur. Options and warrants are included.

For example, a company has 100 shares of stock each with a price of $50. The market capitalization is 100 × $50 = $5000. The company splits its stock "2-for-1". There are now 200 shares of stock and each shareholder holds twice as many shares. The price of each share has been adjusted to $25. The market capitalization is 200 × $25 = $5000, the same as before the split.

Ratios of 2-for-1, 3-for-1, and 3-for-2 splits are the most common but any ratio is possible. Splits of 4-for-3, 5-for-2, and 5-for-4 are not unheard of. Sometimes investors will receive cash payments in lieu of fractional shares.

It is often claimed that stock splits, in and of themselves, lead to higher stock prices; however, research does not bear this out. What is true is that stock splits are usually initiated after a large run up in share price. Momentum investing would suggest that such a trend would continue regardless of the stock split.

Other effects could be psychological. If many investors think that a stock split will result in an increased share price and therefore purchase the stock, the share price will tend to increase. Others contend that the management of a company, by initiating a stock split, is implicitly conveying its confidence in the future prospects of the company.

In a market where there is a high minimum number of shares, or a penalty for trading in so-called odd lots (a non multiple of some arbitrary number of shares), a reduced share price may attract more attention from small investors. Small investors such as these, however, will have negligible impact on the overall price. (Source: Wikipedia)

See also:
Reverse Stock Split

Security

What is a security?

A security is generally a transferable instrument representing an ownership interest in a corporation (equity security or stock) or the debt of a corporation, municipality, or sovereign. Other forms of debt such as mortgages can be converted into securities. Certain derivatives on securities (e.g., options on equity securities) are also considered securities for the purposes of the securities laws. Security Futures Products are considered to be both securities and futures products. (Source: CFTC)

A security is a fungible, negotiable interest representing financial value. Securities are broadly categorized into debt and equity securities. The company or other entity issuing the security is called the issuer.

Securities may be represented by a certificate or, more typically, by an electronic book entry interest. Certificates may be bearer, meaning they entitle the holder to rights under the security merely by holding the security, or registered, meaning they entitle the holder to rights only if he or she appears on a security register maintained by the issuer or an intermediary. They include shares of corporate stock or mutual funds, bonds issued by corporations or governmental agencies, stock options or other options, limited partnership units, and various other formal investment instruments that are negotiable and fungible.

Debt Securities

Debt securities may be called debentures, bonds, notes or commercial paper depending on their maturity and certain other characteristics. The holder of a debt security is typically entitled to the payment of principal and interest, together with other contractual rights under the terms of the issue, such as the right to receive certain information. Debt securities are generally issued for a fixed term and redeemable by the issuer at the end of that term. Debt securities may be protected by collateral or may be unsecured, and if they are unsecured. may be contractually "senior" to other unsecured debt meaning their holders would have a priority in a bankruptcy of the issuer. Debt that is not senior is "subordinated".

Equity Securities

An equity security is a share in the capital stock of a company (typically common stock, although preferred equity is also a form of capital stock). The holder of an equity is a shareholder, owning a share, or fractional part of the issuer. Unlike debt securities, which typically require regular payments (interest) to the holder, equity securities are not entitled to any payment. In bankruptcy, they share only in the residual interest of the issuer after all obligations have been paid out to creditors. However, equity generally entitles the holder to a pro rata portion of control of the company, meaning that a holder of a majority of the equity is usually entitled to control the issuer. Equity also enjoys the right to profits and capital gain, whereas holders of debt securities receive only interest and repayment of principal regardless of how well the issuer performs financially. Furthermore, debt securities do not have voting rights outside of bankruptcy. In other words, equity holders are entitled to the "upside" of the business and to control the business.

Hybrid Securities

Hybrid securities combine some of the characteristics of both debt and equity securities.

Preference shares form an intermediate class of security between equities and debt. If the issuer is liquidated, they carry the right to receive interest and/or a return of capital in priority to ordinary shareholders. However, from a legal perspective, they are capital stock and therefore may entitle holders to some degree of control depending on whether they contain voting rights.

Convertibles are bonds or preferred stock which can be converted, at the election of the holder of the convertibles, into the common stock of the issuing company. The convertibility, however, may be forced if the convertible is a callable bond, and the issuer calls the bond. The bondholder has about 1 month to convert it, or the company will call the bond by giving the holder the call price, which may be less than the value of the converted stock. This is referred to as a forced conversion.

Equity warrants are options issued by the company that allows the holder of the warrant to purchase a specific number of shares at a specified price within a specified time. They are often issued together with bonds or existing equities, and are, sometimes, detachable from them and separately tradable. When the holder of the warrant exercises it, he pays the money directly to the company, and the company issues new shares to holder.

Warrants, like other convertible securities, increases the number of shares outstanding, and are always accounted for in financial reports as fully diluted earnings per share, which assumes that all warrants and convertibles will be exercised. (Source: Wikipedia)

Bonds

What is a bond?

A bond is a debt security, similar to an IOU. When you purchase a bond, you are lending money to a government, municipality, corporation, federal agency, or other entity known as the issuer. In return for the loan, the issuer promises to pay you a specified rate of interest during the life of the bond and to repay the face value of the bond (the principal) when it "matures," or comes due. In contrast to bondholders who have IOUs from the issuer, shareholders are owners of the company they purchase.

There are many different kinds of bonds, including: U.S. government securities, municipal bonds, corporate bonds, mortgage and asset-backed securities, federal agency securities, and foreign government bonds. (Source: SEC)

In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the issuer owes the holders a debt and is obliged to repay the principal and interest (the coupon) at a later date, termed maturity. Other stipulations may also be attached to the bond issue, such as the obligation for the issuer to provide certain information to the bond holder, or limitations on the behavior of the issuer. Bonds are generally issued for a fixed term (the maturity) longer than ten years. U.S Treasury securities issued debt with life of ten years or more is a bond. New debt between one year and ten years is a note, and new debt less than a year is a bill.

A bond is simply a loan, but in the form of a security, although terminology used is rather different. The issuer is equivalent to the borrower, the bond holder to the lender, and the coupon to the interest. Bonds enable the issuer to finance long-term investments with external funds. Debt securities with a maturity shorter than one year are typically bills. Certificates of deposit (CDs) or commercial paper are considered money market instruments.

Traditionally, the U.S. Treasury uses the word bond only for their issues with a maturity longer than ten years, and calls issues between one and ten year notes. Elsewhere in the market this distinction has disappeared, and both bonds and notes are used irrespective of the maturity. Market participants normally use bonds for large issues offered to a wide public, and notes for smaller issues originally sold to a limited number of investors. There are no clear demarcations. There are also "bills" which usually denote fixed income securities with three years or less, from the issue date, to maturity. Bonds have the highest risk, notes are the second highest risk, and bills have the least risk. This is due to a statistical measure called duration, where lower durations have less risk, and are associated with shorter term obligations.

Bonds and stocks are both securities, but the difference is that stock holders own a part of the issuing company (have an equity stake), whereas bond holders are in essence lenders to the issuer. Also bonds usually have a defined term, or maturity, after which the bond is redeemed whereas stocks may be outstanding indefinitely. An exception is a consol bond, which is a perpetuity, a bond with no maturity.

Bonds are issued by public authorities, credit institutions, companies and supranational institutions in the primary markets. The most common process of issuing bonds is through underwriting. In underwriting, one or more securities firms or banks, forming a syndicate, buy an entire issue of bonds from an issuer and re-sell them to investors. Government bonds are typically auctioned.

Bonds markets, unlike stock or share markets, often do not have a centralized exchange or trading system. Rather, in most developed bond markets such as the U.S., Japan and western Europe, bonds trade in decentralized, dealer-based over-the-counter markets. In such a market, market liquidity is provided by dealers and other market participants committing risk capital to trading activity. In the bond market, when an investor buys or sells a bond, the counterparty to the trade is almost always a bank or securities firm acting as a dealer. In some cases, when a dealer buys a bond from an investor, the dealer carries the bond "in inventory." The dealer's position is then subject to risks of price fluctuation. In other cases, the dealer immediately resells the bond to another investor.

Bond markets also differ from stock markets in that investors generally do not pay brokerage commissions to dealers with whom they buy or sell bonds. Rather, dealers earn revenue for trading with their investor customers by means of the spread, or difference, between the price at which the dealer buys a bond from one investor--the "bid" price--and the price at which he or she sells the same bond to another investor--the "ask" or "offer" price. The bid/offer spread represents the total transaction cost associated with transferring a bond from one investor to another.

Bonds are bought and traded mostly by institutions like pension funds, insurance companies and banks. Most individuals who want to own bonds do so through bond funds. Still, in the U.S., nearly ten percent of all bonds outstanding are held directly by households.

A number of bond indices exist for the purposes of managing portfolios and measuring performance, similar to the S&P 500 or Russell Indexes for stocks. The most common American benchmarks are the Lehman Aggregate, Citigroup BIG and Merrill Lynch Domestic Master. Most indices are parts of families of broader indices that can be used to measure global bond portfolios, or may be further subdivided by maturity and/or sector for managing specialized portfolios. (Source: Wikipedia)

Pink Sheets

What are the Pink Sheets?

The "Pink Sheets" is an electronic quotation system that displays quotes from broker dealers for many over-the-counter (OTC) securities. "Market makers" and other brokers who buy and sell OTC securities, can use the Pink Sheets to publish their bid and ask quotation prices. The name "Pink Sheets" comes from the color of paper they were historically printed on. They are published today by Pink Sheets LLC, a privately owned company. Pink Sheets LLC is not registered with the SEC in any way and it is not an NASD Broker-Dealer.

The Pink Sheets does not require companies whose securities are quoted upon its systems to meet any listing requirements. With the exception of a few foreign issuers, the companies quoted in the Pink Sheets tend to be closely held, extremely small and/or thinly traded. Most do not meet the minimum listing requirements for trading on a national securities exchange, such as the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq Stock Market. Many of these companies do not file periodic reports or audited financial statements with the SEC, making it very difficult for investors to find reliable, unbiased information about those companies. For all of these reasons, companies quoted in the Pink Sheets can be among the most risky investments. That's why you should take extra care to thoroughly research any company quoted exclusively in the Pink Sheets. Be aware that some broker-dealers are required by Rule 15c2-11 under the 1934 Act to have some information about the issuer. Ask your broker-dealer whether it has any Rule 15c2-11 information before you invest. (Source: SEC)

Pink Sheets is an electronic system, published by Pink Sheets LLC, to display bid and ask quotation prices of securities. The name "Pink Sheets" stems itself from an earlier paper-based system, which was printed on pink paper. It is mainly used by stock brokers trading OTC securities in the United States.

Pink Sheets LLC is neither an NASD broker-dealer, nor registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; it is not a stock exchange, the companies listed do not need to fulfill any requirements (e.g. filing financial statements with the SEC). With the exception of a few foreign issuers (mostly represented by American Depositary Receipts, or ADRs), the companies quoted in the Pink Sheets tend to be closely held, extremely small and/or thinly traded. Most do not meet the minimum listing requirements for trading on a national securities exchange, such as the New York Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ. Many of these companies do not file periodic reports or audited financial statements with the SEC, making it very difficult for investors to find reliable, unbiased information about those companies.

For these reasons, the SEC sees companies listed on Pink Sheets as "among the most risky investments" and advises potential investors to heavily research the companies in which they plan to invest.

For issuers, the appeal of the Pink Sheets in recent years has been that the issuer has relatively low "clearance" overhead, and can potentially have their stock listed on the NASD's OTCBB with a ".P" suffix.

Buying Pink Sheets shares is supposed to be difficult; broker-dealers are enjoined to weed-out "widows and orphans" who may get an e-mail or word-of-mouth tip about a small stock. Many Pink Sheets stocks may only be registered for sale in one state, so that the only way to purchase the stock is to make a DRIP/business/unsolicited/accredited or other sophisticated form of investment. Many registered representatives do not even know how or if they can sell them. (Source: Wikipedia)

Penny Stocks

What are penny stocks?

The term “penny stock” generally refers to low-priced (below $5), speculative securities of very small companies. While penny stocks generally trade over-the-counter, such as on the OTC Bulletin Board or in the Pink Sheets, they may also trade on securities exchanges, including foreign securities exchanges. In addition, penny stocks include the securities of certain private companies with no active trading market.

Before a broker-dealer can sell a penny stock, SEC rules require the firm to first approve the customer for the transaction and receive from the customer a written agreement to the transaction. The firm must furnish the customer a document describing the risks of investing in penny stocks. The firm must tell the customer the current market quotation, if any, for the penny stock and the compensation the firm and its broker will receive for the trade. Finally, the firm must send monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer’s account.

Penny stocks may trade infrequently, which means that it may be difficult to sell penny stock shares once you own them. Because it may be difficult to find quotations for certain penny stocks, they may be impossible to accurately price. Investors in penny stocks should be prepared for the possibility that they may lose their whole investment. (Source: SEC)

Penny stocks are common stocks that trade for less than $5 a share. In the U.S. financial markets, the term penny stock commonly refers to any stock trading outside one of the major exchanges (NYSE, NASDAQ, or AMEX), and is often considered pejorative. However, the official Securities & Exchange Commission definition of a penny stock is a low-priced, speculative security of a very small company, regardless of market capitalization or whether it trades on a securitized exchange (like NYSE or NASDAQ) or an "over the counter" listing service, such as the OTCBB or Pink Sheets. The terms penny stocks, microcap stocks, small caps, and nano caps are also all sometimes used interchangeably, however per the SEC definition, penny stock status is determined by share price, not market capitalization or listing service.

In the UK markets, penny stocks, or penny shares as they are more commonly called, generally refer to stocks and shares in small cap companies, defined as being companies with a market capitalization of less than £100 million and/or a share price of less than £1 with a bid/offer spread greater than 10%. In the UK Penny Shares are covered by a standard regulatory risk warning issued by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Penny stocks generally have market caps under $500M and are considered extremely speculative, particularly those that trade on low volumes over the counter. The Securities and Exchange Commission warns that, "Penny stocks may trade infrequently, which means that it may be difficult to sell penny stock shares once you own them. Because it may be difficult to find quotations for certain penny stocks, they may be impossible to accurately price. Investors in penny stocks should be prepared for the possibility that they may lose their whole investment."

Many new investors are lured to the appeal of penny stocks due to the low price and potential for rapid gains which may be as high as several hundred percent in a few days. Similarly, severe drops also occur and many penny stocks lose all of their value in the long term. Accordingly, the SEC warns that penny stocks are high risk investments and new investors should be aware of the risks involved. These risks include limited liquidity, lack of financial reporting, and fraud.

In terms of liquidity, since a penny stock has fewer shareholders, it is less 'liquid', meaning it will not trade as many shares per day as a larger company. Any sudden change in demand or supply of stock can lead to a lot of volatility in the stock price. This lack of liquidity can send a stock price soaring up quickly or crashing down quickly. Lack of liquidity and volatility also makes penny stocks much more vulnerable to manipulation by management, market makers, or third parties. A lack of liquidity can also make it extremely difficult to sell a stock, particularly if there are no buyers that day. This can also make the stocks extremely difficult to short.

Secondly, unlike NASDAQ or the NYSE, there are only minimal listing requirements for a stock to remain on the OTCBB, namely that they make their filings with the SEC on time. In fact, companies that fail to meet minimum standards on one of the broader exchanges and are delisted often relist on the OTCBB or the Pink Sheets.

Furthermore, stocks trading on the Pink Sheets (recognizable with a .PK suffix) have little to no regulatory or listing requirements whatsoever, at least compared to major markets. There are no minimum accounting standards, change in notification of ownership of shares, and reported other material changes affecting the financial viability of a company, all of which are designed to protect shareholders.

The SEC notes most the same about Internet message boards, where fraudsters claiming to be unbiased investors who've carefully done their due diligence may in fact be company insiders, and that a single person or a small team can create the appearance of a huge interest in a stock simply by creating a huge number of aliases, while banning the most vocal or perceptive critics of these offerings. (Source: Wikipedia)

Mortgage-Backed Securities

What are mortgage-backed securities?

Mortgage-backed securities (MBS) are debt obligations that represent claims to the cash flows from pools of mortgage loans, most commonly on residential property. Mortgage loans are purchased from banks, mortgage companies, and other originators and then assembled into pools by a governmental, quasi-governmental, or private entity. The entity then issues securities that represent claims on the principal and interest payments made by borrowers on the loans in the pool, a process known as securitization.

Most MBSs are issued by the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), a U.S. government agency, or the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), U.S. government-sponsored enterprises. Ginnie Mae, backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, guarantees that investors receive timely payments. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also provide certain guarantees and, while not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, have special authority to borrow from the U.S. Treasury. Some private institutions, such as brokerage firms, banks, and homebuilders, also securitize mortgages, known as "private-label" mortgage securities.

Mortgage-backed securities exhibit a variety of structures. The most basic types are pass-through participation certificates, which entitle the holder to a pro-rata share of all principal and interest payments made on the pool of loan assets. More complicated MBSs, known as collaterized mortgage obligations or mortgage derivatives, may be designed to protect investors from or expose investors to various types of risk. An important risk with regard to residential mortgages involves prepayments, typically because homeowners refinance when interest rates fall. Absent protection, such prepayments would return principal to investors precisely when their options for reinvesting those funds may be relatively unattractive. (Source: SEC)

A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is an asset-backed security whose cash flows are backed by the principal and interest payments of a set of mortgages. Payments are typically made monthly over the lifetime of the underlying loans.

Since residential mortgagors in the United States have the option to pay more than the required monthly payment, with the additional payment reducing the remaining loan principal, the monthly cash flows are not known in advance. This advance payment of principal is known as prepayment and is an additional risk for MBS investors.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) are secured by commercial and multifamily properties (such as apartment buildings, retail or office properties, hotels, industrial properties and other commercial sites). The properties of these loans vary, with longer-term loans (5 years or longer) often being at fixed interest rates and having restrictions on prepayment, while shorter-term loans (1-3 years) are usually at variable rates and freely prepayable.

There are many reasons for mortgage originators to finance their activities by issuing mortgage-backed securities. Mortgage-backed securities

1. transform relatively illiquid, individual financial assets into liquid and tradeable capital market instruments.
2. allow mortgage originators to replenish their funds, which can then be used for additional origination activities.
3. can be used by Wall Street banks to monetize the credit spread between the origination of an underlying mortgage (private market transaction) and the yield demanded by bond investors through bond issuance (typically, a public market transaction).
4. are frequently a more efficient and lower cost source of financing in comparison with other bank and capital markets financing alternatives.
5. allow issuers to diversify their financing sources, by offering alternatives to more traditional forms of debt and equity financing.
6. allow issuers to remove assets from their balance sheet, which can help to improve various financial ratios, utilize capital more efficiently and achieve compliance with risk-based capital standards.

(Source: Wikipedia)