Duration measures a bond's price sensitivity to interest rate changes, directly correlating to interest rate risk. A higher duration means the bond's price will fluctuate more when interest rates change; a 1-year duration implies a 1% price change for a 1% rate shift, while a 10-year duration suggests a 10% price change.
Generally, when interest rates rise, the higher a bond's duration is, the more its price will fall. Time to maturity and a bond's coupon rate are two factors that affect a bond's duration. A fixed-income portfolio's duration is computed as the weighted average of individual bond durations held in the portfolio.
That's not to be confused with a bond's maturity, which is simply the date on which a bond issuer must repay the principal of a bond to the bond holder in full. Generally, the higher the duration, the more sensitive your bond investment will be to changes in interest rates.
Duration is a measurement of a bond's interest rate risk that considers a bond's maturity, yield, coupon and call features. These many factors are calculated into one number that measures how sensitive a bond's value may be to interest rate changes.
Duration assumes a linear relationship between bond prices and changes in interest rates. In actuality, however, prices fall at an increasing rate as interest rates rise; similarly, prices rise at an increasing rate as interest rates fall.
A higher duration implies greater price volatility should rates move. Duration is quoted as the percentage change in price for each given percent change in interest rates. For example, the price of a bond with a duration of 2 would be expected to increase (decline) by about 2.00% for each 1.00% move down (up) in rates.
Interest rates can also be fixed or variable. Variable interest rates can change over the length of the loan depending on market conditions, meaning if you take out a loan, your payment may increase or decrease at different times. Fixed interest rates are locked in for the length of a loan and cannot change.
Duration matching is a risk management strategy, commonly used in the insurance industry, where the duration (price sensitivity to a yield curve movement) of an asset portfolio is adjusted to be made equal to the duration of the liability. This is done under that assumption that doing so eliminates interest risk.
Key Takeaways
Selling bond ETFs during price dips can lock in losses; patience might yield a recovery as interest rates fall. Bond ETFs offer diversified exposure and easy trading, but rising rates impact their prices. As interest rates rise, alternatives like money market accounts and CDs may offer better yields.
There are four types of structural interest rate risk. As defined in the Basel paper, the four risks are repricing (mismatch), yield curve, basis and optionality. Repricing or mismatch risk is created when fixed rate loans are funded by variable rate borrowings or when fixed rate deposits fund variable rate loans.
Interest rates directly affect bond prices. When interest rates rise, bond prices fall; when rates drop, bond prices rise. This relationship, known as interest rate risk, means that if you sell a bond before it matures, you may receive more or less than its face value depending on current rates.
There are three types of bond durations namely, Macaulay duration, modified duration and effective duration. A Macaulay duration represents the weighted average time before a bond's cash flows are fully paid and provides an effective way of measuring the time until an investor will get their money back.
Basic compound interest
For other compounding frequencies (such as monthly, weekly, or daily), prospective depositors should refer to the formula below. Hence, if a two-year savings account containing $1,000 pays a 6% interest rate compounded daily, it will grow to $1,127.49 at the end of two years.
Duration is often said to measure a bond's sensitivity to changes in interest rates, because it describes what is likely to happen to a bond's price for a given change in the bond's yield.
The 3-5-10 rule for ETFs refers to regulatory limits under the Investment Company Act of 1940, restricting how much one fund (an "acquiring fund") can invest in another (an "acquired fund"), meaning no more than 3% of the acquired fund's voting stock, 5% of the acquiring fund's assets in one fund, and 10% of the acquiring fund's total assets across all other investment funds. While some unofficial investor guidelines use similar numbers (e.g., expense ratios, turnover), the official 3/5/10 rule is a strict SEC rule preventing excessive "fund-of-funds" investing to protect investors from layering fees and risks.
Duration is a measurement of a bond's interest rate risk that considers a bond's maturity, yield, coupon and call features. These many factors are calculated into one number that measures how sensitive a bond's value may be to interest rate changes.
Duration can quantify the change in a bond's price for changes in its yield. For a 1% change in interest rates, a bond's price will change (inversely) by an amount roughly equal to its duration. For example, a 5-year bond with a coupon of 4.0% matures in 5 years and has a duration of 4.5 years.
Duration refers to the price sensitivity of a bond, or a portfolio of bonds, to a change in interest rates. It is measured in years. The higher the duration, the greater the responsiveness of the bond price – or the value of a bond portfolio – to a change in interest rates.
Trump wants interest rates to fall sharply so the government can borrow more cheaply and Americans can pay lower borrowing costs for new homes, cars or other large purchases, as worries about high costs have soured some voters on his economic management.
The 3-7-3 Rule in mortgages isn't a loan type but a federal timeline from the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule, ensuring borrower protection by mandating disclosures within 3 business days of application, a 7-business-day wait between the initial Loan Estimate and closing, and another 3-day wait if significant changes (like APR) occur, giving borrowers time to review costs before committing to a loan.