Jun 5, 2013
So you think bond funds are safe? Think again
Stocks are risky, but bonds are safe — or so goes the stereotype. But what about bond mutual funds?
by Allan Sloan
Stocks are risky, but bonds are safe, or so goes the stereotype. Buy a solid bond — the logic goes — and you get your money back at maturity with interest. Then there are bond mutual funds, which are built on bonds, but are a very different animal than straight up bonds. As interest rates have risen over the past month, dividends for some of the nation’s largest bond funds have been all but wiped out.
Allan Sloan, senior editor at large at Fortune magazine, joins Marketplace Morning Report host David Brancaccio with the latest.