Just call me angel of the funding, angel...Yeah.
Just like angels are usually a welcome sight, an angel bond is one that has a medium or high rating. If the three big bond rating agencies (Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch) rate a bond BBB or Baa3 and higher, the bonds are considered low risk. However, they also provide a lower interest rate since the issuer has a high credit rating.
Most municipal bonds and all U.S. Treasury bonds are considered to be angel bonds. The agencies rate a bond when it is first issued. However, they may lower the rating over time if a municipality, for example, is experiencing economic challenges such as filing for bankruptcy (Detroit, 2013), or anything that increases the risk that they might not be able to pay back the principal.
If a bond was once an angel bond but then is downgraded to a “junk” rating, it is known as a fallen angel. Think of JC Penny and Toys Are Us and Sears and a whole slew of soon-to-be-lunch-for-Amazon companies.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What are the Differences in S&P...27 Views
finance a la shmoop what are the differences in S&P's, and Moody's
ratings? capital letters. really that's about it the assessment of the rating
itself is about the same. the people work at both companies all came from about [grinning men walk in front of a school]
the same schools the same semi diversified backgrounds and well they
all eat the same white bread. note the nomenclature differences here though.
Moody's does in fact look kind of moody with a big fat capital letter in the
beginning followed by small letters and slightly different notations. the S&P is
all in caps all shouting all the time. the metrics behind say a quote highly [chart shown]
speculative bond unquote down here are about the same for both companies but
the slight differences are worth noting so that when you see a rating well you
know just by the way in which it's written who wrote it.
now as for actually understanding bond ratings well that's a different story. to [document shown]
most people they might as well be hieroglyphics. [confused woman reads paper]
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