investment-grade

In recent months, US retail investors have continued to put money into government and investment grade bond funds.

That was later downgraded to below investment grade, the person familiar with the matter said.

The obvious answer was that they were focusing on "investment grade" luxury housing targeted at speculators.

We've been a steady buyer off and on [this year] of individual items in the corporate-bond market, mostly investment-grade.

There is no other market where large investment-grade risk positions can be transferred on such a narrow offer.

This is, of course, set against the fixed supply of each investment grade vintage, which then decreases as it matures and is consumed.

Of dozens of new investment-grade and junk-bond issues that had been scheduled for the weeks after Labor Day, most have been sidetracked.

Greenness aside, such bonds are indistinguishable from any other investment-grade "plain vanilla" security.

Investment-grade corporate bonds, in particular, may have little upside, at least relative to stocks.

Interest rates on investment-grade and junk bonds have continued to fall by the day .

Ireland's sovereign credit profile is no longer consistent with a high investment grade rating.

Their investment grade ratings of many subprime mortgage-backed securities were a primary cause of the current financial crisis.

August was the first month with no euro-denominated, investment grade corporate bond sales since the currency was introduced in 1999.

Now Brazil's government is an international creditor. An investment-grade credit rating is probably only a matter of time.

Like the big two, Chile, Colombia, Panama and Peru have investment-grade credit ratings, and all four are growing fast.

"For investment-grade companies, it's almost as much as you can eat, " says Charles Himmelberg of Goldman Sachs.

Access to the bond market remained more restrictive and is conditional on investment-grade rating by the recognized credit rating agencies.

In order for wines to be considered 'investment grade, ' enough quantity must be available on the market so that prices are not volatile.

In absolute terms, though, neither junk nor investment-grade bonds are seeing anything like the sell-off they had last summer.

Since the nadir in March, U. S. stocks have gained close to 50% and investment-grade credit spreads have halved.

The total Yankee debt issued, $45. 3 billion, accounts for 68% of the U. S. investment-grade bonds marketed overall.

High quality, investment-grade bonds from companies with solid balance sheets and steady growth prospects have been harder to come by.

Toyota group suppliers Denso, Aisin and Toyota Industries also were put on notice of a downgrade in their investment grade bond ratings.

Investors also should look for companies that have been reducing their debt and have stated their intent to earn an investment-grade rating.

He was previously global head of the firm's investment-grade and public sector financing and infrastructure financing businesses.

Investment-grade firms are now paying a spread of more than five percentage points, compared with less than one point in February 2007.

Investment-grade corporate bond yields are still not much off their highs, a sign credit is still tight.

Among the beneficiaries are companies that issue investment-grade debt.

As with other alternative assets, such as real estate, commodities or investment-grade wine, movies are best used for diversification.

Looking back into the 1920s, he found that investment-grade bonds went bust with alarming frequency, often in the same year they were rated.

Investment grade bonds (those with a rating of BBB or better) carry less risk but offer a relatively low yield.

supposedly riskier commodity, equity and non-investment-grade credit contracts must go into separate affiliates with higher capital costs.

One key finding was the continued move by investors into investment grade credit.

Credit bonds for investment grade credit as well as distressed debt have suffered greater falls than even equities.

Fitch Ratings unexpectedly raised India's sovereign foreign and domestic currency ratings to investment grade yesterday.

Still, spreads over Treasury rates paid by both investment-grade and speculative-grade corporate borrowers remain quite elevated.

I signaled especially attractive opportunities in municipal bonds and investment-grade corporate bonds.

Starting early this year, businesses with no credit rating or ratings below investment grade also flocked to the market.

Investment-grade corporate bonds now yield three to five percentage points more than comparable Treasurys.

An investment-grade credit rating is probably only a matter of time.

Ample liquidity and low inflation should continue to foster a favourable environment for investment grade credit.

Those securities obtaining cash first received investment-grade ratings from rating agencies.

Ireland's rating will probably remain within the investment-grade category, Moody's said.

Second, stocks look cheap relative to expensive core government and investment-grade corporate bonds.

And then it swept out again, stranding everyone from investment-grade companies to emerging-market oligarchs .

Investment grade bonds marginally under perform governments.

A decade ago, only one had an investment-grade credit rating; now all do.

The cost of protecting US investment grade debt against default soared to a high of 188 basis points, from 80bp in January.

The weakness has been much greater in speculative, or high-yield, bonds than in the investment-grade part of the market.

It is now only a notch below investment grade.

They market their instruments with fraudulent investment grade ratings.

Moody's Investors Service assigned the company an Aa2 rating, the third-highest investment grade.

Other investors rushed to gobble up investment grade securities or (if all else failed) sovereign bonds.

Credit ratings agency Fitch lowered its ratings on Cadbury and Kraft, but both remain investment-grade at BBB-.

'We're still skeptical that a lot of that stuff could be lowered below investment grade, ' said Mr. Prokupek.

China National Offshore Oil Corp, the state-owned oil company, raised $2bn through an investment-grade dollar bond in January.

Since the future is unpredictable, some investment grade bonds will default.

Earlier this year Moody's said $390bn of US bonds, mostly investment grade, were due to mature through to the end of 2011.

Tax revenues have plunged, jeopardising Mexico's investment-grade credit rating.

One detail: Large amounts of GE Capital's loans are to borrowers with junk, or sub-investment-grade, ratings.

'Equities are extremely cheap to investment-grade corporate credit. '

Companies whose bonds are rated as junk have risen more than those with investment-grade ratings.

The rating agency reminded investors that India was in danger of losing its investment grade.

Nor would it make much difference were Social Security to be invested in other assets such as equities, investment-grade bonds and property.

Large investment banks like Lehman and Merrill Lynch all had solid investment grade ratings.

Turkey is now on the verge of achieving an investment-grade rating for the first time.

At the time, it allowed banks to pledge only investment grade-rated collateral.

It would take on more risk by abandoning its rule of lending only to investment grade borrowers.

Colombia's sovereign debt was promoted to investment grade by all three ratings agencies this year.

Standard &Poor's, a rating agency, has just made Rio the first Brazilian state whose debt is ranked as investment grade.

Standard & Poor's hiked Colombia's sovereign-debt rating to investment grade last month.

S& P cut Ukraine's credit rating by two levels last week to CCC , seven below investment grade and the lowest in Europe.

'Preferred securities currently represent the highest yielding investment grade asset class, ' he says.

Investment grade perform in line with government benchmark.

The Guggenheim fund only tracks investment-grade issuers, with more than Rmb1bn of bonds outstanding.

Meanwhile, investment-grade credit indices in the US and Europe hit record wide levels.

Mexico may soon lose its cherished investment-grade credit rating.

Many have fallen overnight from highly rated investment grade to junk.

The credit rating of the structured finance insurer was slashed to non-investment grade as a result.

Initially the loans were secured by investment-grade bonds and other high-grade collateral.

The financial world, in my view, gave its judgment on India being investment grade at the end of 2004.

The investment-grade corporate bond markets have also seen record levels of issuance in the past few months.

Only five are publicly rated, all of them at what the agency describes as "high investment grade credit quality" .

The issuers to date all boast investment-grade credit ratings.

There are better opportunities in corporate debt, from investment grade to high yield.

Brazil earned its first investment-grade rating -- ever -- in April 2008.

Drexel's fees on junk issues were 3-4%; less than 1% was typical for investment-grade bonds.

The firm manages about $190 billion in assets. Lancioni helps oversee about $80 billion in investment-grade fixed-income assets.

GM debt, once considered the highest investment grade, has tumbled to low-rated, junk-bond status.

However, he warns that only 15 B-share stocks of the 110 companies offering them are investment grade.

Junk Bond A bond that is rated by a ratings agency as being below investment grade and investment in the bond is high risk.

According to Merrill Lynch data, investment - grade corporate lending interest rate in the fourth quarter of 2008 a new record high.

In Europe and Asia, spreads for many investment grade companies are at 10-year highs, according to Lehman.

The government has almost no debt and an investment-grade credit rating.

There are nine notches to go before the US would lose investment grade status.

That helped persuade Fitch, a ratings agency, to lift the government's credit rating last month to BB , one notch below investment grade.

S& P also cut Latvia to below investment grade.

An investment grade rating should indicate that a bond is unlikely to default.

High-yield borrowers, which are rated below investment grade, issued $70. 8 billion in new debt, down 26% from the first quarter.

We bought some investment-grade bonds that are due on April 15, 2010, and we got a 6% yield to maturity on those bonds.

A slang term for investment-grade bonds. This is the opposite of fallen angels, which are bonds that have a 'junk' rating.

The spread of investment- grade corporate yields over Treasurys rose to more than 2 percentage points from 1. 5 .

'You can still make 8% to 12% in non investment-grade credits today, ' he says.

Investment-grade corporate bonds in November had their worst month since February 2009, losing 0. 8%, according to Barclays Capital indexes.

Companies prefer to do business with the biggest dealers such as Goldman and JP Morgan because of their investment grade status.

Even returns on normally stodgy investment-grade U. S. debt are up 35% from their October 2008 bottom.

Investment-grade borrowers issued $369. 1 billion in new debt in the quarter, according to Dealogic, down 42% from the first quarter.

Investors have hedged themselves by holding not only Treasuries but also higher-yielding investment-grade bonds.

And if they do move the market, it is generally because they are flipping the on-off switch between investment and non-investment grade.

Its sovereign debt rating has risen to one notch below investment grade in the last year.

But Portugal, which was kept in investment-grade territory, has a better track record at improving its public finances.

Bonds from less risky companies with investment grade ratings were up 1. 9 per cent, with 10-year US Treasury debt down by 0. 2 per cent.

Moody's later downgraded Ireland's sovereign debt to below investment grade, or junk, sending yields on their 10-year bond to a record 14%.

Investment-grade bond sales dropped 30% in the first 10 months of 2011 from the same period in 2009.

Investment-grade bonds offered investors stock-like returns during their rally last year.

Maintain an investment grade credit rating and a low cost of capital

Investment Grade Bond rated BBB and above or Baa and above by Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investor Service respectively

Assist in the finalization of an investment grade business plan

current turmoil may even hasten Brazil's attainment of investment-grade status