The Bond Market Association today launched its completely updated and redesigned website, www.investinginbonds.com, the award-winning investor education site, which is the only non-commercial website to offer users real-time price data for all municipal bond trades, and beginning next week, real-time U.S. corporate bond trades will be available to investors as well.
The re-launched site features up-to-the minute news and commentary and a broad selection of information and educational materials designed to help many different types of investors, from beginners to experienced equity investors to the most sophisticated bond investor.
"We urge investors to visit and use investinginbonds.com," said Bart McDade, chairman of the Bond Market Association and global head of fixed income at Lehman Brothers. "It's completely commercial free and is solely intended to help investors make appropriate investment decisions. The Association takes its educational mission seriously and this re-launching investinginbonds.com with richer and deeper data, background, commentary and news is a tangible part of that effort."
The Association is launching its redesigned website at the same time the Municipal Securities Rule-Making Board has begun publicly disseminating real time municipal bond prices and shortly before the National Association of Securities Dealers implements 100 per cent dissemination of corporate trades through its TRACE system. The Association is firmly committed to providing real-time prices for free to retail investors because it believes price transparency gives them crucial information.
"Investinginbonds.com has been designed to make it as easy as possible for retail investors to access and use the vast price data that are now available in the bond markets," said Micah Green, president of the Bond Market Asso- ciation. "To be able to offer this information on one site, free of charge and commercial free, while also adding significant educational and market information is really something unique."
The revamped site was specifically designed to address the needs of lots of different kinds of investors, with the architecture, color palette and other features purposefully chosen to create a welcoming, yet relevant environment. A "Learn More" section offers novice investors, as well as others, information and articles such as the effect of rising interest rates on an individual's investments. Information is presented in context as well, with easy-to-read descriptions, so charts, graphs and other data can be easily understood.
A "Markets-at-a-Glance" section offers even the most sophisticated investor an array of information, including economic indicators and bond indices, ranging from general market barometers to very specific ones narrowly focused on markets such as corporate or sovereign debt. Additionally, the site features a "News & Commentary" section which features daily news updates and regularly updated commentary on specific markets, such as mortgage-backed securities. Importantly, the site is also designed to allow users to easily navigate between sections so they can quickly reach connected and relevant information.
"Investinginbonds.com is deliberately designed to provide information to investors of all levels," noted Mr. Green. "The site has won national recognition in the past and has attracted up to one and a half million visitors a year but we wanted to extend its usefulness so even the most basic or the most sophisticated investor could find information which will help them in their decision-making process."
The site was redesigned by a dynamic partnership involving Association members, staff, the Bond Market Foundation and award-winning outside design consultants Bixler Incorporated and Erickson-Barnett. The partnership focused on meeting the challenge of providing relevant information to a wide range of investors. Association members provided almost two dozen data and information feeds. The site is exceptionally easy to navigate and allows users to concentrate on its content and not get distracted by technical difficulties.