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Hoots : Is the price of a long-term STRIP typically higher than that of a short-term STRIP? When interest rates and duration are taken into account, how do they affect the prices of STRIPS ? I'm so confused with this question. - freshhoot.com

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Is the price of a long-term STRIP typically higher than that of a short-term STRIP?
When interest rates and duration are taken into account, how do they affect the prices of STRIPS ? I'm so confused with this question.


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STRIP is an acronym for 'separate trading of registered interest and principal securities'. A Treasury bond issued for 30 years would have 'coupons' paying interest twice a year. This lowers the duration. By stripping away the coupons from the final bond payment, a stack of treasury bonds are changed to another stack of zero coupon bonds of 60 different durations.

Is the price of a long-term STRIP typically higher than that of a
short-term STRIP?

Assuming all other things equal aside from the time, the long-term bond should be cheaper since it would have more of a discount to it as these are basically zero coupon bonds and so the price has to reflect all the coupon payments that aren't happening.

When interest rates and duration are taken into account, how do they
affect the prices of STRIPS ?

From Wikipedia:

The impact of interest rate fluctuations on strip bonds, known as the
bond duration, is higher than for a coupon bond. A zero coupon bond
always has a duration equal to its maturity; a coupon bond always has
a lower duration. Strip bonds are normally available from investment
dealers maturing at terms up to 30 years.

The reason for the duration being different is that in the case of the STRIP there isn't any re-investment whereas with a coupon bond there would be payments that could be re-invested. Thus, it is a bit of an all or nothing component at work here.

If interest rates rise, then the bond will go down in value as the new issues will have a better rate. If interest rates fall, then the bond will go up in value as the new issues will have a lower rate.

If you want some examples, here would be a couple:

Interest rate rise. If one holds a bond that had an initial yield of 5% and there is 5 years left while new issues will yield 10%, then the value of the bond will go down to increase the yield as the bond's maturity value is fixed. The bond's price drop is enough that the new yield will be in line with currently available bonds that have a new higher yield.
Interest rate fall. If we reverse the yield numbers so that what one holds yields 10% and rates fall to 5% then the price of the bond will rise as one could sell it for more compared to the other bonds out there.

If there is more to the question, please clarify the question as duration and interest rates alone can be a broad topic to cover.


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I will assume that by STRIP you mean a zero-coupon bond.

Once upon a time, long-term bonds were engraved documents which had
coupons attached to them that little old ladies could clip out and
take to the bank each month/quarter/year to "deposit" into their
savings accounts. The bank would collect the interest represented by
the coupon from the bond issuer and deposit the cash into said LOLs'
accounts. These days, all this is done electronically for the most
part and there are few coupons to physically clip from an engraved
bond to take to the bank any more.

Anyway, many big players in the bond market buy jumbo-size
long-term bonds for which each "coupon" represents a sizeable chunk
of money and then sell the "coupon" as a zero-coupon bond
to investors at a discounted price, with the discount depending
on when the coupon becomes payable and the current interest
rate. For example, a brokerage may buy (say) a one-million-dollar
thirty-year Treasury bond at 2% annual interest (paid semi-annually)
that will pay K as the coupon interest every six months, and thus
have sixty K zero-coupon bonds (STRIPs)
to sell with maturities from six months to thirty years. The bond represented
by each coupon pays no interest as cash (hence the name zero-coupon)
to the purchaser; it is merely a promissory note that X years from
now, the bond-holder will receive K. Those unwilling to
wait X years to collect their just deserts can sell the bond on the
open market. Now, the
the bond itself increases in value as the maturity date approaches
till it reaches the full face value on the date the underlying coupon
is payable, but this value may or may not be realizable on the
open market depending on current market conditions and investor
confidence. The IRS takes the position that the imputed interest
of the bond is taxable income to the bond-holder (unless it is a
municipal bond). For this reason, many people prefer to hold
zero-coupon bonds in their tax-sheltered accounts.
There are other exceptions to the imputed interest rule too. US Savings Bonds
are effectively zero-coupon bonds bought at 50% discount from
face value, but the owner has the option of including the imputed
interest as taxable income each year (good idea if the bond was
purchased in the name of a child) or in one swell foop when the
bond is cashed in (easier to work with when one holds lots of US
Savings Bonds, often because of purchases via payroll deduction).

With this as prologue, the price of a long-term zero-coupon bond
is less than that of a short-term bond and it also fluctuates
more wildly. Would you be willing to pay more to get a piece
of paper (or a few bits in your broker's computer!) that
promises to pay K in thirty
years' time than you would for a similar object that will pay
K in just six months?


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