Business

The marketplace for all your bonds needs

Published

6 days ago

November 23, 2022

Rick D'Andrea

If you thought the stock market was big, the bond market is even bigger! This is because the global exchanging of debt securities has a vast range of maturities and credit ratings.

And although many investors ‘ignore’ the bond market (they may not completely understand how it works, or are turned away because of the lower, fixed returns compared to the potential of stocks) it is crucial to understand its place in the investing scheme of things, and how you can benefit from it.

For example, while the Fed and most other central banks are increasing interest rates, the Central Bank of China recently cut its interest rate. Which means that not all economies agree on global interest rate decisions, and that could influence more diverse fixed income opportunities. And investors need greater choice and flexibility when determining whether to increase their portfolio allocations to bonds.

If you are considering bonds, Interactive Brokers is the place to head to, with the availability of over ONE MILLION bond types and options.

From corporate bonds, to US government securities, to non-US sovereign bonds, investors are able to find better-suited choices via the Bond Search Tool.

Investors can compare available options by maturity date, coupon, yield and rating, and even go as far as filtering by country of issuer, currency or industry.

This can make it easy to choose the right bond product, and allocate capital towards it.

The Bond Search Tool also allows an investor to compare yields against those of other brokers, to see if you are getting the lowest priced bonds, with the most transparent pricing.

And speaking of pricing, IBKR has no mark-ups or built-in spreads, and has low and transparent commissions.

Treasury bills, notes and bonds: 0.2 bps for the first USD$1 million of face value, plus 0.01 bps for face value above USD$1m.

Corporate bonds: 10 bps for the first USD$10,000 of face value, plus 2.5 bps for face value above USD$10,000.

Municipal bonds: 5 bps for the first USD$10,000 of face value, plus 1.25 bps for face value above USD$10,000 trade directly with other IBKR advisors and clients

You can even trade directly with other IBKR clients. It’s no wonder that Interactive Brokers was rated Best Online Broker for Bonds by Benzinga for a second consecutive year.

Business

BlockFI the latest crypto collapse

Published

12 mins ago

November 29, 2022

Ahron Young

The contagion from the FTX crypto collapse has claimed another major scalp.

Cryptocurrency lender BlockFi has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

BlockFi claimed more than 100,000 creditors with liabilities up to $10 billion.

BlockFi was founded in 2017 and is now hoping bankruptcy protection will allow it to stabilize the company and restructure.

In a statement, the company says:

“With the collapse of FTX, the BlockFi management team and board of directors immediately took action to protect clients and the Company,”

“From inception, BlockFi has worked to positively shape the cryptocurrency industry and advance the sector.”

Days after FTX declared bankruptcy, BlockFi said it had significant exposure to FTX and its other corporate entities.

BlockFi is now the fourth crypto-focused company to seek bankruptcy protection this year, following FTX, Voyager Digital, and Celsius Network.

Business

It’s Musk v Twitter in tech war

Published

16 mins ago

November 29, 2022

Rick D'Andrea

A war has broken out between Elon Musk in his battle against Apple.

In a tweet, owner Musk says Apple may ban Twitter from the App store, which would be devastating for his company, and wonders if it has to do with free speech. He even tagged Apple boss Tim Cook.

Musk says: “Apple has threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.”

This all comes in the wake of other organisations allegedly following Apple’s suit and cutting back their advertising spending since the $44 billion Musk takeover.

General Mills and Pfizer have been two companies that have gone down this path and diverted their spending elsewhere.

Right now users can still see ads in their Twitter feeds.