But today, the market for leveraged loans is strong, with half the market trading above par.
Take the 10-year US Treasuries, for instance, which trades 20 percent above par, at a historically low yield of near 2 percent.
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Now, with rates down, the bonds had appreciated to 16% above par.
If they auctioned them off, they would sell for above par value, because the market would bid up the price of these securities until they yielded perhaps 0.02%.
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Sean Greene assured me that none of this will cost taxpayers a dime, because the government simply guarantees loans 10-year maturity bonds raised from private investors at rates slightly above par.
For example, the 10-year Treasury bond was over 121 in September and is now trading at 99, meaning anyone who bought the safe haven U.S. debt above par is now watching that investment lose money.
The willingness to take a chance on blemished credits pushed below-investment grade securities above par value for the first time since before the financial crisis, up from a nadir of 55 cents on the dollar in December of 2008, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
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But can QWERTY devices be priced on par or above the price of smartphones featuring cutting edge, 4.3 inch display tech and superior processor performance?
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Moody's has cut Spanish sovereign debt to just a notch above junk status, on a par with Azerbaijan.
The release of Maps was a very different decision: as above, the release of a decidedly sub-par product for strategic reasons.
But the elevations of John Thain (Bank of America-Merrill Lynch) and, above all, Sir Win Bischoff, chairman of Citigroup and a City grandee par excellence, epitomise the prevailing mood of prudence at the expense of risk.
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