A short-term debt obligation issued at a discount to par. Discount notes are similar to zero-coupon bonds and Treasury bills and are typically issued by government-sponsored agencies or highly rated corporate borrowers. Discount notes do not make interest payments; instead the bond is matured at a par value above the purchase price, and the price appreciation is used to calculate the investment's yield.
Discount notes will have maturity dates of up to one year in length.
|||The biggest issuers of discount notes are Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Most institutional fixed-income buyers will compare the yield-to-maturity (YTM) of various zero-coupon debt offerings with standard coupon bonds, looking for yield pickup in discount bonds.
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