A good way to get a sense of what investors are thinking about in a given time period is to look at the data regarding ETF inflows and outflows that is available at IndexUniverse.com. The website shows that in the year-to-date period, the third- and fourth- largest gainers among all U.S. ETFs were Vanguard Short-Term Bond Fund (BSV) and PowerShares Senior Loan (BKLN). The two funds have hauled in $2.8 and $2.7 billion, respectively, since the start of the year. The popularity of these funds indicates that even though the bond market has held up well this year, investors remain concerned about Read More...

One of the most important decisions for bond investors is whether to buy bond funds or individual bonds. While individual bonds provide the comfort that a certain amount of cash will be returned at a specific time, bond funds offer greater diversification and spare investors the need for individual security research.

Last week, Kiplinger's Steven Goldberg weighed in on the issue in his article "5 Reasons to Avoid Buying Bonds Directly." Among his reasons: individual bonds are difficult to buy and sell at their true value, active fund managers have more latitude to look for value and greater expertise in researching individual securities, and funds can adjust their portfolios to maintain a yield above the rate of inflation.

Read the full article here.

At first, it seems unthinkable. With global government debt rising and corporations rushing to issue debt at low rates, could there really be a shortage of bonds? According to a story published by Reuters on May 15, that's exactly the case.

One reason: the aggressive quantitative easing - or bond-buying - programs being employed by the world's central banks. The article said, Read More...

It's getting harder to find investments with decent yields these days, but it isn't impossible. Below is the list of the 15 highest yielding bond ETFs, ranked in order of their SEC yields as of May 14, 2013, and excluding target maturity ETFs. The yields shown here may differ from others that appear on ETF-screening websites, since most sites use trailing 12-month yield - a different measure. Not surprisingly, the majority of the funds invest in high yield or emerging market corporate bonds. Keep in mind, of course, that there's more to selecting an investment than its yield, as outlined in my article The Top 10 Most Common Mistakes by Bond Investors. The 15 highest-yielding bond ETFs are: Read More...