For up-to-the-minute information, you can get corporate bond quotes news and trends from many resources on the Internet. If you're interested in other investors' opinions, you can participate in blogs, where you can read what others are saying about corporate bonds.

While you can find corporate information in the libraries, and magazines are also great resources to obtain news and trends on corporate bond quotes. the Internet allows you to update yourself quickly on corporate bond quotes news and trends. Here are three avenues from which you can get corporate bond information:

1. Get corporate bond information through blogs.

2. Obtain corporate bond price quotes from financial news websites.

3. Look for corporate bond quotes news and trends from newsletters.

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Use blogs to get corporate bond information on market trends

Consider visiting blogs to get more in-depth on corporate bonds, particularly on how the market is doing. Bloggers can analyze how the corporate bond market is performing compared to what it has done in the past. They'll also provide charts to back up their analyses. Using their analyses, they will try predict if corporate bonds rates will increase or decrease.

I recommend: The Aleph Blog does not provide rates on corporate bonds. However, it provides in-depth analysis, such as how corporate bonds are doing compared to S & P earnings. Across the Curve also provides corporate bond information. Though you may not get current corporate bond rates, you’ll be able to read articles on corporate bonds, and also read and post comments.

Use financial news websites for news on quotes for corporate bonds

Get free corporate bond quotes from financial news websites as well as the latest news and trends on corporate bonds. If you want to see how corporate bond indices are doing, then you'll want to rely on these websites. Obtain information such as the price, volume, or the percentage change in the corporate bond.

I recommend: Bloomberg provides the latest corporate bond market quotes. You can also view how the bond indices are doing. Bloomberg provides the latest on the following indices, such as NASD/Bloomberg Investment Grade U.S. Corporate Index and NASD/Bloomberg High Yield U.S. Corporate Bond Index. The Wall Street Journal also provides bond quotes on corporate bonds. You can get the volume and the corporate bond’s yield.

Subscribe to newsletters to get information on corporate bond quotes news and trends

Don't overlook electronic newsletters as a way to get solid corporate bond information. Newsletters will feature interviews with corporate bond traders and also CEOs of corporations. Read the latest regarding why corporations want to issue corporate bonds, such as to expand their operations or buy new equipment. Newsletter analysts can recommend what corporate bonds to buy or sell.

I recommend: Income Securities has a newsletter that focuses on what corporations are doing. You can get information such as interest rates, but you’ll have to subscribe to the newsletter. FINRA also features a newsletter that discusses corporate bonds. You’ll also have to subscribe to this newsletter.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  After you've gotten your corporate bond quotes, don't jump in once you've decided on the bond to purchase. Go online and check its bond rating first and see the trends for that type of bond.

Corporate bond quotes are in terms of prices or yields. Bond quotes assume a $100 par value bond. For example, a quote of $102.50 means that if you purchase a $100 dollar bond, you would pay $102.50. A bond's yield is the expected annual rate of return for holding the bond from the day of the quote until it matures.

For the small individual investor, understanding and using corporate bond quotes is a great way to help plan the fixed income portion of an investment portfolio and to calculate risk premiums on various other instruments that you may want to include in your portfolio. These steps will help you to get started:

1. Learn to read and understand quotes on corporate bonds.

2. Locate corporate bond quote providers.

3. Consult with a professional.

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Understand corporate bond quotes

The financial press prints bond quotes for the largest bond issues every week. A guide to reading the quotes is included with this table. This is a great place to start learning about quotes on bonds. It is also important to monitor trading in corporate bonds, so you can understand how market forces affect rates on corporate bonds.

I recommend: The first thing to do is understand how corporate bonds work. PIMCO has an excellent introduction. It is also important to get a sense of the broader corporate bond market. The Wall Street Journal provides a variety of rates on corporate bonds.

Find corporate bond quote providers and updates

Getting good quotes requires balancing time and money. If all you need to do is see the shape of the yield curve, this is available for free on most websites that provide financial news. On the other hand, a bond trader prefers trade-by-trade updates and this can be expensive. For the typical individual investor however, daily or weekly corporate bond quotes are adequate.

I recommend: The New York Times provides daily updated data on the most active bonds in the investment grade, high-yield, and convertible categories. Yahoo provides a bond screener that allows you to input a variety of bond characteristics, and then it finds matching bonds. This tool provides the most recent quotes on corporate bonds, along with a debt rating. InvestinginBonds.com also provides an interactive data tool for corporate bond rates.

Work closely with a professional who specializes in corporate bond quotes

Since your ultimate goal is to direct an investment strategy, it is important to discuss any investment plan with a qualified professional. Working closely with them on a regular basis is a great way to keep yourself up-to-date with fluctuating corporate bond rates.

I recommend: Certified Financial Planners (CFPs) are highly regarded and held to a high ethical standard. To find a CFP in your area, go to Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. and search for a practitioner by zip code. The National Association of Financial Professionals also provides a search tool. Finally, if you have a broker or banker you currently work with, they can also help develop your bond portfolio.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  For tax purposes, the IRS treats coupon payments from bonds as income rather than dividends. Also, any increase in corporate bond rates prior to sale or maturity is taxed as capital gains. Keep this in mind when planning your portfolio.

Normal 0 If you’re planning on making the most of corporate bond quotes, you have to understand the rationale for issuing them. Businesses issue bonds for various reasons, including upgrading their equipment or expanding to other locations.

Investing in corporate bonds is different from investing in stocks. There are different types of corporate bonds, such as fixed-rates or convertibles. You’ll want to visit different websites that show not only quotes on corporate bonds, but also provide you comprehensive corporate bond information. When it comes to making the most of corporate bond quotes, work to:

1. Avoid corporate bonds for sale that have call provisions
2. Compare corporate bonds to other investments
3. Determine what you will pay in taxes on corporate bonds

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Search for corporate bonds that don't have call provisions

While getting corporate bond quotes, find out whether the bonds have a call provision. If it does, then the issuing company can call back the bonds and pay you only the principal, not the interest you had hoped to make. This can happen in situations where the bonds become more valuable but the interest rate declines.

I recommend: Yahoo! Finance is a valuable resource you can visit that identifies the different types of bonds on the market. You can also learn about bond strategies. The online JSTOR journal has a paper on the deferred call provision and corporate bond yields.

See how a corporate bond rates when compared to other investments

As we all know, the investment world can be volatile. For example, big selling in the mutual fund market can have a desirable effect on corporate bonds as an investment tool. When checking rates on corporate bonds, keep up-to-date with what's going on in the rest of the investment world.

I recommend: A business article in Reuters describes how a changing investment market can impact corporate bonds. Bondsonline provides the latest corporate bond market quotes and information such as historical prices and yields.

Get tax quotes along with bond quotes

Be aware of the taxes you will incur with corporate bonds. While on the surface they offer a higher return and may seem to be a better deal than other bonds, they also are taxable at the federal, state and local levels. Your tax bracket also plays a factor. Consider the interest the corporate bond pays and your after-tax gain when deciding to invest in corporate bonds.

I recommend: Morgan Stanley explains an example of a New Yorker buying a corporate bond and the impact of federal and state taxes. AARP gives advice on bonds for planning purposes.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Before you get quotes on corporate bonds, make sure you completely understand the risks involved. Remember corporate bonds are debt instruments. If the corporate bond's interest rate is high, it can mean it is a high risk.

A corporate bond quote is composed of a variety of information about the bond itself. The first is the price, which relates to the coupon offered on the bond and prevailing interest rates. The maturity of the bond is also an important factor because the farther away the maturity date, the riskier the bond. The credit rating and whether or not the bond is callable are also very important factors. To help you better understand corporate bond quotes, here are some key words that will come up in your research.

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Bond price

The price of the bond is set in the corporate bond market through the interaction of supply and demand. If the coupon rate on the bond is higher than the interest rate on similar instruments, the price of the bond increases because people want the higher coupon rate.

I recommend: BNET offers more information on bond pricing.

Coupon rate

The coupon rate tells us the amount of money the bond owner receives every six months. The coupon rate is quoted as a percentage rate for the whole year, so to determine how much each semi-annual coupon payment is, the bond owner must multiply the coupon rate by the dollar amount of bonds owned and then divide by two. The coupon rate is an important component of the bond quote, because investors like higher coupon payments.

I recommend: StreetAuthority provides a detailed definition of the coupon rate.

Current yield

The current yield is a very convenient way of measuring the expected future return from owning a bond. To calculate current yield, divide the annual coupon payment by the current price of the bond. The result is a percentage that gives an idea of what the annual return will be if you buy the bond at that price and hold it for at least one year.

I recommend: WiseGEEK has a very comprehensive discussion of current yield.

Maturity date

The maturity date of the bond tells the investor when the last coupon will be paid. It is also the date when the money borrowed through the bond issue will be repaid. Bonds with maturity dates farther in the future tend to be more risky than shorter-term maturity bonds. This is because more things can go wrong during a long time period.

I recommend: Check out Investopedia for a definition of the maturity date.

Bond rating

Each corporate bond is given a bond (credit) rating by a credit rating agency. Credit ratings give the investor an idea of the level of default risk faced when buying the bond. A firm with a good credit rating is likely to make all the coupon payments, whereas a firm with a bad credit rating is likely to miss coupon payments.

I recommend: Find the definition of a credit rating for a bond on TheFreeDictionary. Investorwords provides more information on bond ratings.

Callable

Normally, bonds can only be repurchased by the original issuer if the bond investor is willing to sell the bond back to the issuer. Callable bonds get around this problem because the issuer of a callable bond retains the right to repurchase the bonds at the issuer's discretion.

I recommend: For a comprehensive discussion of callable bonds, visit the Securities and Exchange Commission.