Investor's wiki

Backup

Backup

What Is a Backup?

The term "backup" generally alludes to the negative change in a bond's yield and price before it is issued by a company. This term is really jargon utilized by bond investors.

The price of a bond backs up when a company finds the security more costly or less lucrative to issue than it had anticipated. A backup is normally brought about by an unforeseen change in interest rates.

"Backup" is likewise used to depict a transaction in which an investor sells one bond to buy another, or it might signify a short-term price trend.

How Backups Work

The term backup is language utilized by bond investors. In the bond market, a backup happens when yields rise prior to issuance and offering price or coupon (interest) must be adjusted to make up for the increase in required yield. A yield is the return paid on an investment and is generally communicated as the interest rate paid on the bond. At the point when bonds' yields rise, their rate of return rises. This means that really more money is paid out in interest relative to the price of the bond, which diminishes. In this manner, when yields rise prior to issuance of a bond, the issuer needs to choose whether to increase the coupon (interest) rate they will offer bondholders, or lower the price of the bond below par.

For example, assuming that interest rates increase, the required yields on recently issued bonds will rise with them. This powers a company that presently can't seem to issue bonds to raise the coupon on its bond issue, which increases its cost of debt. The other option is for the company to sell its bonds at a discount and reduce the amount of cash it raises from giving (selling) the bonds.

All in all, the bond issue has become more costly. This increase in the cost of giving the protections โ€” otherwise known as the spread, the difference between the amount paid to the issuer of a security and the price paid by the investor for that security โ€” is the backup. A backup basically damages a company's work to bring cash to invest up in operations or different parts of the business.

Extra Meanings of Backup

There are two or three different purposes for the term backup in the bond market. A bond trader might sell one bond, generally with a longer maturity, and utilize the proceeds to purchase another bond, frequently with a shorter maturity. The transaction is called a backup. This is a strategy frequently utilized when short-term interest rates are more good than long-term ones. The recently acquired bond brings about a more ideal yield for the investor than the one they sold.

A short-term price trend in a market may likewise be portrayed as a backup. For instance, say the stock market is moving in a bullish bearing โ€” that is, stock prices are generally on the rise. In any case, there might be a chance that it encounters a brief bearish reversal before heading back. This short-lived trend, whether or not it goes vertically or downward, is frequently alluded to as a backup.

Special Considerations

Bonds are generally safer than other investment options, especially assuming they are graded profoundly by the major bond rating agencies. However, this doesn't mean they don't accompany risks. As a matter of fact, carrying bonds might lead to losses for investors in certain circumstances, particularly in the secondary bond market.

Interest rates are the primary factor in the price of a bond and on its yield. As interest rates rise, existing bond prices fall. This happens in light of the fact that those more seasoned bonds pay less interest than the fresher bonds issued at the current, higher interest rates: A bond paying 3% looks less attractive while the common rate has leaped to 3.5%. To make up for its lower payout, the more established bond's purchase price falls โ€” sort of like the manner in which last year's BMW or iPhone gets set apart down when the new model emerges. This is known as interest rate risk or market risk.

Both interest rate risk and opportunity risk increase the longer you hold a bond, or the longer a bond's maturity. The longer the term of your bond, the greater the chance that a more alluring investment opportunity will open up.

Investors who buy bonds for their normal payments of interest and don't trade them on the secondary bond market don't need to worry about their bonds declining in price. Be that as it may, they really do face a marginally unique problem, known as the problem is opportunity risk or holding-period risk. This means an investor who buys a long-term bond, risks committing money at a relatively low rate of return in the event that interest rates and bond yields rise for new issues.

Features

  • Typically brought about by a change in interest rates, a backup can damage a company's work to raise cash from the bond issue,
  • To redress, companies need to raise the coupon on their bond issue or to sell their bonds at a discount.
  • A backup is trader's shoptalk for an unfavorable change in the yield, spread, or price of a bond before it is issued.
  • The word backup may likewise portray the sale of a long-term bond to work with the purchase of a shorter-term bond to benefit from interest rate changes.
  • A short-term price reversal in the markets overall may likewise be depicted as a backup.