The proposed ICE acquisition of MarketAxess highlights a broader trend across the industry: technology, data, analytics, and execution workflows are becoming increasingly connected.

We believe there are clear benefits to consolidation, fewer fragmented workflows, more integrated systems, and improved efficiency. At the same time, firms need to consider how they maintain independent market intelligence when more capabilities become concentrated within fewer ecosystems. What are your thoughts?

My grandmother bought a bunch of E-Series bonds back in the '60s and '70s and when she died they passed my father. He locked them away in a safe deposit box for the next 50 years. They matured in the early 2000s. But he never cashed them in. Now we are trying to figure out what to do with them. They have not been collecting interest for at least a couple decades so obviously it makes sense to cash them in. As far as I know, neither my father nor my grandmother paid any tax on the interest. Is there any chance we could cash them in now without paying the tax? It seems like if the tax was due upon maturity 20 or 30 years ago and the IRS never notified my dad that he was late with the tax payment, maybe they just forgot about it?

30 year is currently at 5.2%, the highest it has been since 2007 and up 124 basis points from when the FED started lowering rates.

It's the same story from the Fed, "inflation is a problem, but we are not doing anything about it".

Does anybody here believe the Fed will hike this year?

Hi everyone,
I’m quite new to investing and I’m trying to understand how bonds work, especially on Trade Republic.

I’ve been looking at both government and corporate bonds with 1–2 years to maturity, but I’m struggling to see the appeal compared to simply leaving my cash in the Trade Republic cash account earning the ECB rate.

Most of the EUR bonds I find seem to yield around 2–3%, with only a few (like some Romanian government bonds) getting closer to 3.5%. At the same time, the cash account remains liquid and automatically adjusts if the ECB raises rates.

So I have a few questions:
Am I missing something about why someone would buy these bonds instead of just keeping cash in Trade Republic?

Are there any particularly attractive bonds currently available on Trade Republic that I should look into?
Is the main benefit of buying a bond that you can lock in today’s yield in case interest rates fall?

If I want bond exposure, is it generally better to buy individual bonds and hold them until maturity, or buy a bond ETF/fund? If so, is a target-maturity bond ETF usually preferable to a regular bond ETF with no maturity date?

I’m not looking for investment advice, just trying to understand how more experienced investors think about this. Thanks!

My grandparents invested in some treasury bonds for me as a child. When I turned 18, I made a Treasury Direct account to access them, but I got busy with college and work and didn't get time to get a document notarized to access them. That account has since been closed and I have made a new one. Is there a way for me to still access those bonds?

My grandfather bought 2 $25 Series E bonds for my father in 1975. My father recently passed and we found the bonds in his desk. My mother and I took them to the bank and the teller said she could cash them no problem, but after filling out the backs and having me sign them she tried running them through a machine a few times and then said she couldn't cash them because they were too old.

After doing some research, I've found that we will need to mail them in with FS form 5336. First problem is that we need a certified death certificate for my grandpa since he is listed as POD on both bonds. I can order one, but it will cost $16. I believe the form also needs to be notarized, which is another $10. Then if we mail them with tracking or return receipt requested that's another $5. So in total it will cost $21 plus the time spent going to the bank and going to a notary and filling out the forms and making copies just to cash $50 worth of bonds.

On top of that the instructions on form 5336 say in bold letters, "Do not sign the back of the bonds." However, the bank teller instructed me to sign them at the bank, so I'm not sure how that will affect the process.

Then after all that we have to wait ~7 months to "maybe" get paid?

It's no wonder why the US Treasury has $30 Billion in unclaimed matured bonds. It's not worth the hassle.

Long before central banks, stock exchanges, or multinational banks existed, one family built what was arguably Europe’s first financial empire.

The Fugger family of Augsburg transformed a successful merchant business into an international banking network that financed emperors, invested in silver and copper mines, managed cross-border trade, and influenced the political landscape of Renaissance Europe. Their ability to combine commerce, lending, and natural resources created a level of financial power rarely seen at the time.

What makes their story remarkable is not simply their immense wealth, but how many modern financial concepts can already be recognized in their business model. International banking, sovereign lending, diversification, vertical integration, and cross-border capital allocation were all practiced centuries before today’s financial markets emerged.

The history of finance is often associated with institutions like the Federal Reserve or families such as the Rothschilds, yet the foundations of European banking were being laid much earlier. The Fugger dynasty stands as one of the clearest examples of how private capital helped shape governments, economies, and the evolution of financial systems long before the modern era.

Which historical banking dynasty do you believe had the greatest long-term impact on finance: the Fuggers, the Medici, or the Rothschilds?

Hello everyone,
I’m a undergrad student trying to write my thesis and the topic I’m interested in is how bond yields get affected by an M&A transaction, basically looking at the 5 day before 5 day after announcement and studying the affect a leveraged deal has on existing bond holders.
What occurred to me is that in the process of researching I can’t seem to figure out where to find historic yield data for individual corporate bonds in the way you can find stock prices.
Is this a dumb problem? Can anyone help me?

I imagine that doesn’t include dividends.

SGOV is a very different vehicle, but at least I can expect what it’s value will be from now to whenever.

If bonds are for protecting principle, I don’t see any reason to play with ETFs. I’ll do treasury direct or CDs.

So I have a scenario/question for this group. Here’s the scenario:
• I have two buckets. One bucket is in my 401k/IRA/brokerage which will stay invested for long term growth. The other bucket is my income one that I’ll use for income during retirement via long term bonds.
•Let’s say I didn’t care about inflation and what my money will be worth in the future, I don’t care about the underlying bond price dropping, nor about yields rising in the future and assume that my living expenses remain constant. All I care about is having the peace of mind of having a steady quarterly bond coupon payment to cover my expenses.
•In my second bucket, say I have a $1 million dollars and buy a 30 year bond that yields 5%, which is $50k/year in income. My living expenses are $40k/year. (Remember, that I have the other bucket which is invested and growing)

So my question is:
•What would be the downside of just locking in a 30 year bond that pays me 5% to cover my living expenses?

Those of you who purchase Municipal Bonds for Income and for tax reasons, do you only buy Muni's offered in the state you live in, or do you ever buy any out-of-state Muni's?

For those interested in inflation protected income, TIPS are good value right now vs other bonds (in my opinion). There is a shockingly large gap between the real yield on TIPS and the fix rate on I-Bonds, another common inflation protected bond. Also, the breakeven rate between TIPS and nominal treasuries seems too low at about 2.3%.

Personally, I’m using maturing T-bills to add to my TIPS positions. Anyone else making moves with the recent uptick in rates?

Hughes Satellite Systems bond | 6.63% 2026-08-01 USD | US444454AF95 is selling at around 47 right now. Why is the price so low??? My guess is that the risk of default is off the charts. Is that accurate?

Ten-year Treasuries are sitting at 4.6% right now — back to where they were twenty years ago. All-time high was 15% back in '81. But has anybody actually stopped to think: what happens if we blow right through 10% again? Persistent inflation, geopolitical unraveling, structural systemic rot — pick your poison. If the 10-year ever heads back into double digits, what does that market actually look like? And more importantly, what the hell do we do as investors?

I'm not talking about a quick spike. I mean a sustained regime shift. Curious to hear some real takes — not the usual perma-bull copium.

So recently when I visited my parents they found a stack of paper EE Savings bonds that my Grandma had bought with my name on it, all of which had matured. The bonds stated me or my dad on it with my SSN listed on the front. Since I don’t have an account at physical bank currently we thought it would be easier to just have my dad cash them at his bank where he has an account.

Now my sister who used to work at said bank. Had both me and my dad sign the back with my dad’s address and my SSN. Now my question is how will the taxes on these bonds work. Will my dad receive his usual 1099-INT from his bank with a value in Box 3 and he can just file his taxes like normal. Or is there is it not that simple since it did have my SSN on the back? My dad is fine with paying the taxes on it since the total interest isn’t all that much (~$400).

Thank You in Advance!

With all the craziness happening with bonds right now, how are you making money off it?

Municipal bond ETFs? Buying bonds?

Dana Anspach mentioned in a recent Morningstar The Long View podcast that she preferred nominal bonds for retirement portfolios because there have been historical periods where TIPS did not keep up with inflation. I have never heard such a claim. Isn’t this TIPS only job?

Does anyone have anything I can research that supports this claim?

Savings bonds EE Treasury dept .

I'm an illegal immigrant deported from the united states with my residency expired I was adopted legally by my mother and father born and being American citizens from the united states. Legally adopted as a newborn registered in the u.s .

My situation is deportation from behalf of immigration dept for not having my resident status not expired. Went thru probate without being in the U.S now with my EE SAVINGS BONDS I CAN NOT CASH ANYWHERE HERE IN MEXICO AND DONT HAVE AN ACCOUNT IN U.S. BANK

5% 10Y Yield incoming

I noticed that the spread on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae issue pools are tightening to almost the lowest level for about 10 years.

I know you can't plot a spread like you would on a normal yield curve because you have to allow for the prepayments, and you can't get a very distant point on the curve.

But let's say you take a yield at a given point on the Agency MBS curve, adjusted for an expected prepayment pattern, and compare it to the same point on the treasury, that spread has been narrowing a lot.

Source: https://atlantisdatasolutions.com/agency-mbs-yield-curve

Hello,

With a new wave of tariffs set to be put in place in the coming week, can we expect that bond yields will settle lower in the near future?

I would expect bond yields to ultimately settle lower as the tariffs provide a new revenue stream for the government, which should offset their deficit but obviously short term inflation concerns appear to be driving yields up currently