Fixed Income Analysis, Second Edition

FOREWORD

There is an argument that an understanding of any financial market must incorporate an appreciation of the functioning of the bond market as a vital source of liquidity. This argument is true in today’s financial markets more than ever before, because of the central role that debt plays in virtually every facet of our modern financial markets. Thus, anyone who wants to be a serious student or practitioner in finance should at least become familiar with the current spectrum of fixed income securities and their associated derivatives and structural products.

This book is a fully revised and updated edition of two volumes used earlier in preparation for the Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA^®) program. However, in its current form, it goes beyond the original CFA role and provides an extraordinarily comprehensive, and yet quite readable, treatment of the key topics in fixed income analysis. This breadth and quality of its contents has been recognized by its inclusion as a basic text in the finance curriculum of major universities. Anyone who reads this book, either thoroughly or by dipping into the portions that are relevant at the moment, will surely reach new planes of knowledgeability about debt instruments and the liquidity they provide throughout the global financial markets.

I first began studying the bond market back in the 1960s. At that time, bonds were thought to be dull and uninteresting. I often encountered expressions of sympathy about having been misguided ...