Business Reporter

Opportunity knocks in the midst of a crisis. Clever risk assessment and canny investment into Italian or Greek bonds could pay back in dividends With only interim governments in place, both Greece and Italy are still left with enormous fiscal troubles, and Italy is forced to pay high interest rates of more than 7 per [...]

Gilts are being snapped up at rapid pace by investors, buoyed by the quantitative easing policy. But with popularity ebbing away a good return, and any threat of crisis set to rock the bonds boat, just how safe are gilts? In 2011, UK gilts returned better than any other bonds in the world except those [...]

Investing in bonds has been a safe bet since the 13th century. But whether it’s corporate bonds, gilts, or even Bowie bonds, there are a number of risks that can crop up and rain on your profits parade At the start of it all was an Englishman. Sir John Hawkwood was a mercenary of the [...]

China is breaking its 17-year ban on municipal bonds as it strives to finance public projects. But analysts say this historic step won’t have a big impact on the market. At least not yet, anyway… China is carefully dipping its toe into the municipal bond market, with the central government announcing that it will allow [...]

Bond funds in developing countries have enjoyed a bumper year, and with the GDP weight of emerging markets likely to catch up with so-called safe haven countries in just two years, is now the time to invest? It is true that investing in the public debt of blue-chip developing countries is no longer considered exotic [...]

The euro’s ‘existential crisis’ is grim, and investor confidence is low. So where should we be looking to? Whether it’s in Europe or the Far East, it seems the name of the game here is growth “The euro zone is in the midst of an existential crisis from which it may not emerge,” says Andrew [...]

Safe and steadily rising investment-grade bonds, or the risky but profitable business of high-yield bonds. Which bond is best? Corporate bond issuance has been rising fairly steadily since the financial crisis, and these bonds offer very interesting yields. International companies have sold more than $42 billion worth of sterling-denominated bonds so far this year – [...]