Corporate bonds are debts issued by industrial, financial and service companies to finance capital investment and operating cash flow. In terms of total face value of bonds outstanding, the corporate bond market at $5 trillion is bigger than each of the markets for municipal bonds, U.S. treasury securities, and government agencies. Investors in corporate bonds have a wide range of choices when it comes to bond structures, coupon rates, maturity dates, credit quality and industry exposure.

This section provides information on investing in corporate bonds, including:

• Different types of corporate bonds, including high yield bonds and fixed rate capital securities
• What happens when a corporate bond issuer goes bankrupt
• How changes in a company’s credit rating can affect its bond investors’ yields
• Weekly new issue offerings