Robert Wickboldt

Investors often need to remember bonds, which can be as important to a portfolio as stocks. But they didn't do well this year, which may have hurt regular savers.  This is because bonds don't do well when interest rates go up, as they did in 2022. This year, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 4.25 percent, the most since 1980. In 2022, rising interest rates, high inflation, and a lack of energy worldwide hurt the bond market . The Federal Reserve's quick run of rate hikes hurt bond prices because newly issued bonds started paying higher yields. This made investors less interested in older bonds in their portfolios. Unlike stocks, which tend to do better when times are bad, bond prices usually decrease when interest rates increase. But most of the time, they still pay a bonus payment that can compensate for some of the losses. Most of the ups and downs this year have been caused by inflation. Because of this, the long-term real interest rate, the actual return on a...

Many types of equity markets allow companies to raise capital and investors to own a piece of a company. These markets are vital for our economy. There are two significant categories of equity markets – primary and secondary. The way separates these companies are listed on them. The immediate need is centralized and consists of exchanges, while the secondary market involves issuances and trades through dealers. The Primary Market is a place where companies offer securities to raise capital. The company’s equity capital is then used to fund its business needs, including operations and growth. Companies can offer various types of securities in the primary market, including stocks and bonds. These can be issued in several ways, including through an initial public offering (IPO) or rights issues. A primary market also allows investors to buy securities at a lower cost than a secondary market. Generally, the proceeds from the sale of securities in the primary market go directly to the comp...