Read the corporate bond quotes Americans have invested in bonds more than any other security. The layout of the bond columns is similar to the stocks and funds columns, but unique in the descriptive terms listed. The next three steps will define the terms for each bond type, starting with corporate. The abbreviated name of the company and some key additional information appears in this column.
Current yield is a way to track the relative value of the bond.
It's the percentage of interest you would earn if you bought the bond at its current price, but how it works is a little tricky. The payout for a bond's interest rate never changes, but the bond's value does. Therefore, when you buy the bond at a lower or higher price than its par value , you get a different percentage of interest. So, if you're buying, you want a low price and a high yield, and the opposite if you're selling. The difference between the closing price given and the price given the previous day.