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ecotourist said:
Yes. If you hold a bond to maturity (and assuming there hasn't been a default) you will get paid the interest and recover the face value.

But make no mistake, if interest rates rise, that bond will be worth less than it was. That loss of value is just not apparent to someone who holds the bond to maturity. But if you try to sell a bond (which you can easily do), and if there has been an increase in interest rates you will get less than the face value for it.

Similarly, in a bond fund or bond ETF, that reduced value is being reflected in the daily value.
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Indeed.
I am pretty selective with bonds (in my own way) and KNOW I will hold to maturity. I certainly don't trade bonds.

I hold exactly one bond right now, in a tax protected account.

I paid ~.80 on the 1US$.

https://fixedincome.fidelity.com/ftgw/fi/FIFrameset.do?page=FIBondDetails.do?cusip=56035LAE4

Definitely holding until maturity. A very small 20K part of my portfolio filling a niche.
 
There is an interesting offshoot of bonds. Someone (a financial institution probably) breaks a bond down by removing all of the interest coupons. That someone then sells the bond's face value (payable on the day of maturity, without any interest during the interim) and the interest payment coupons which are called "strips".

Suppose the bond is paying 12%. They did at one time.

On a $100,000 bond the strips would pay $12,000 on January 1, 1981, 1982, 1983 ...etc. The value of the strips on the day the bond is issued would be much less than $12,000, depending on how long before the payment is due. Similarly the value of the stripped bond would be much less than $100,000.

I bought a few strips at high interest rates (11.25 and 11.5% if memory serves) with long durations before their due date - like 20 to 30 years. When interest rates fell over the next few years, I sold them and made a lot of money. That's the plus and the minus of long duration strips. They dramatically leverage changes in interest rates. When rates fall, you make money like there is no tomorrow. When rates rise, you feel like you've been taken to the cleaners.

They were one of my best investments ever. I'll admit that was mostly luck. I don't think I understood at the time how volatile they are.

I never bought them again and I won't be buying 20 or 30 year strip coupons ever again. There's too much risk.
 
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Dave Hess said:
I follow the trucking / cargo / shipping / transportation industry very closely for signs of economic slowdown.
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My coworker's wife is a VP in Blue Cross Blue Shield and she said all BSBC locations across the country are getting ready for a recession. They're currently consolidating their spaces and trying to figure out plans for a mass amount of folks who are laid-off or unemployed.
 
Pew said:
My coworker's wife is a VP in Blue Cross Blue Shield and she said all BSBC locations across the country are getting ready for a recession. They're currently consolidating their spaces and trying to figure out plans for a mass amount of folks who are laid-off or unemployed.
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Yep, companies are already making plans for upcoming recession. Even in healthcare they are trimming headcount in non clinical roles / patient facing roles. Open job postings being closed and not replacing workers when they quit / retire.

Hopefully the folks getting lay off notice were smart with their money and saved for job loss.

https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

https://www.thelayoff.com/
 
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Dave Hess said:
Yep, companies are already making plans for upcoming recession. Even in healthcare they are trimming headcount in non clinical roles / patient facing roles. Open job posting being closed and not replacing workers when they quit / retire.

Hopefully the folks getting lay off notice were smart with their money and saved for job loss.

https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

https://www.thelayoff.com/
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I talked to someone recently who works in a healthcare system regionally. They have a large restructuring planned ahead. There will be a number of layoffs.
 
That was quite the market turnaround and dump at the end. The more Powell spoke the more the markets realized they had assumed to much and famous saying about assume became reality.
 
Will elections this week cause certain companies / sectors to pop or drop ?

I still have a little cash on sidelines for buying opportunities….
 
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Dave Hess said:
Will elections this week cause certain companies / sectors to pop or drop ?

I still have a little cash on sidelines for buying opportunities….
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I’m going to say no in general but who knows? In a couple more years the visibility might be clearer for sectors like oil.
 
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