The bond market is where participants can issue new debt or buy and sell debt securities to provide long-term funding for public and private expenditures. Now that you know how and where to buy bonds, you probably want to know about the actual bond market.
What is the Bond Market?
The bond market is a financial market where participants can issue new debt. Also referred to as the debt, credit or fixed-income market, it includes securities issued by the government and corporate debt securities. Its purpose is to provide long-term funding for both public and private expenditures.
The stock market often hogs the media attention, but the bond market is actually significantly bigger! It’s also quite vital to the ongoing operation of both the public and private sector.
The majority of trading in the bond market happens over-the-counter and is composed of both the primary market and the secondary market. Debt securities are issued and sold by borrowers to lenders through the primary market. It’s through the secondary market where investors buy and sell previously issued debt securities among themselves.
Bond Market News
There are many places you can receive bond market news. Here are your best resources:
General bond market tips
Investing in bonds isn’t for everybody. While many experts agree that at least some of your portfolio should be made up of bonds, there are certain types of investors who fit the mold a little better.
You would be more likely to invest in bonds:
1. If you are a relatively conservative investor.
Bonds are considered to be a safer alternative to stocks in the short term. They are less volatile, meaning there will be less swings.
2. If you feel the stock market is too risky and you want to make sure all your eggs aren’t in the same basket
Stocks tend to outperform bonds over time. Though in the short-term, bear markets could cause your stock investments to lose value. However, as the graph below indicates, Bonds have typically been more stable than any other asset.
3. If you cared more about generating income from your investments rather than appreciation.
Bonds pay a regular interest rate (income) but usually do not go up in value as much as stocks, ETFs or mutual funds do.
4. If you are a retiree
Investors in retirement have a shorter investment horizon. Therefore you will care more about income generation and safety.
Some of the key variables to look at when deciding whether to invest in bonds are: their maturity, redemption features, credit quality, interest rate, price, yield, and potential tax benefits. Together, these factors help determine the value of a bond investment and how well it matches your personal investment goals.
International bond market
International bonds are just debt investments that are issued in a country by a non-domestic entity, in their native country’s currency. The main benefits of investing in international bonds are portfolio diversification, higher historical returns and currency benefits.
While they do offer diversification opportunities, foreign bonds can also carry considerable risk. Currency and default risks are the biggest concerns.
Due to multiple levels of risk, investing in global bonds is often best left to a portfolio manager. Most international bond issues are difficult to purchase directly from the sovereign government or offshore corporation that issues them. In some cases, actually, foreign governments won’t even allow the purchase of government bonds by non-residents! So even if you feel comfortable…we’d still push for a portfolio manager.
Junk bond market
Junk bonds aren’t really all that different from regular bonds. They, too, are a debt from a corporation or organization. Like regular bonds, a junk bond will have a principal (amount to be paid back), a maturity date (the date by which it will be paid back) and a coupon (interest rate). The different is the issuer’s credit quality.
Their poor credit rating makes it difficult for them. Junk bonds pay high yield to bondholders because the borrowers don’t really have other options. Junk bonds are typically rated ‘BB’ or lower.
Junk bonds can be broken down into two subcategories:
- Fallen Angels – A bond that was once investment grade but has since been reduced to junk-bond status because of the issuing company’s poor credit quality.
- Rising Stars – A bond on its way to being investment quality, whose rating has been increased because of the issuing company’s improving credit quality.
Despite their name, junk bonds can be valuable investments for informed investors. Just be sure to understand that with their potential high returns comes the potential for high risk!
Ranking of Top Stock Newsletters Based on Last 3 Years of Stock Picks as of September 27, 2025
We are paid subscribers to dozens of stock and option newsletters. We actively track every recommendation from all of these services, calculate performance, and share our results of the top performing stock newsletters whose subscriptions fees are under $500. The main metric to look for is "Return vs S&P500" which is their return above that of the S&P500. So, based on September 27, 2025 prices:
Best Stock Newsletters
| Rank | Stock Newsletter | Picks Return | Return vs S&P500 | Picks w Profit | Max % Return | Current Promotion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  Alpha Picks | 90.5% | 65.0% | 76% | 1,478% | November, 2025 Promotion: Save $50 |
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| 2. |  Moby.co | 52.4% | 16.5% | 74% | 2,412% | November, 2025 Promotion: Next pick free! |
| Summary: 60-150 stock picks per year, segmented by industry; Retail Price is $199/yr. Read our Moby Review. | ||||||
| 3. |  Zacks Top 10 | 35.3% | 16.4% | 76% | 170% | November, 2025 Promotion: $1, then $495/yr |
| Summary: 10 stock picks per year on January 1st based on Zacks' Quant Rating; Retail Price is $495/yr. Read our Zacks Review. | ||||||
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| Summary: 2 picks/month and 2 Best Buy Stocks lists focusing on high growth potential stocks over 5 years; Retail Price is $199/yr. Read our Motley Fool Review. | ||||||
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| Summary: 100-150 trades per year, lots of buying and selling and short-term trades. Read our Jim Cramer Review. | ||||||
| 7. | Zacks Home Run Investor | 5.1% | 0.1% | 46% | 299% | November, 2025 Promotion: $1, then $495/yr |
| Summary: 40-50 stock picks per year based on Zacks' Quant Rating; Retail Price is $495/yr. Read our Zacks Review. | ||||||
| 8. | IBD Leaderboard ETF | 11.4% | -1.8% | n/a | n/a | November, 2025 Promotion: None |
| Summary: Maintains top 50 stocks to invest in based on IBD algorithm; Retail Price is $495/yr. Read our Investors Business Daily. | ||||||
| 9. | Zacks Under $10 | 2.0% | -2.1% | 38% | 263% | November, 2025 Promotion: $1, then $495/yr |
| Summary: 40-50 stock picks per year based on Zacks' Quant Rating; Retail Price is $495/yr. Read our Zacks Review. | ||||||
| 10. | Hidden Gems | 35.6% | -3.1% | 69% | 240% | Current Promotion: Save $200 |
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| Top Ranking Stock Newsletters based on their last 3 years of stock picks covering 2025, 2024, 2023, part of 2022 performance as compared to S&P500. S&P500's return is based on average return of S&P500 from date each stock pick is released. NOTE: To get these results you must buy equal dollar amounts of each pick on the date the stock pick is released. Investor Business Daily Top 50 based on performance of FFTY ETF. Performance as of September 27, 2025. | ||||||