I am sure you have heard the adage my word is my bond. We do not know who said it first, but since 1801 this is the motto of the London Stock Exchange (in Latin "dictum meum pactum"), where agreements were made with no exchange of documents and no written pledges were given. About 100 years later John Moody published the first publicly available bond ratings and rating agencies as a business were founded. When can a bond be determined to be in default? How do rating agencies indicate that an issue is in default? Which has more credit risk: investment grade debt or speculative debt/junk bonds? Why is the separation of these two categories important?.
I am sure you have heard the adage my word is my bond. We do not know who said it first, but since 1801 this is the motto of the London Stock Exchange (in Latin "dictum meum pactum"), where agreements were made with no exchange of documents and no written pledges were given. About 100 years later John Moody published the first publicly available bond ratings and rating agencies as a business were founded. When can a bond be determined to be in default? How do rating agencies indicate that an issue is in default? Which has more credit risk: investment grade debt or speculative debt/junk bonds? Why is the separation of these two categories important?.