The Bond Market Association's Award-Winning Investor Education Website, http://www.InvestinginBonds.com, Adds Free Real-Time Corporate Bond Prices; Site Now Carries Free Corporate, Municipal & Treasury Prices

NEW YORK, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bond Market Association today announced that its award-winning investor education website, InvestinginBonds.com, is now providing the full corporate bond pricing information being made available through an agreement with the National Association of Securities Dealers, which provides the information through its so-called TRACE, or Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine, system. This includes real-time transaction information for all retail trades, all investment grade trades and all but the least liquid trades of non-investment grade issues. This is the first time that real-time corporate bond price information is being made available free-of-charge to retail investors. The availability of free real-time corporate bond information is a major step forward for individual investors. Previously, information was carried on InvestinginBonds.com on a four-hour delayed basis and was available for only investment grade corporate debt and the largest high yield issues. Starting today, real-time data are available on all investment grade securities and virtually all other corporate bonds as well. "Real-time" in this instance means within 30 minutes after a trade is completed and, beginning July 1st this year, within 15 minutes of a trade. "Individual investors are real winners here," said Micah S. Green, president of The Bond Market Association. "By using the price data on InvestinginBonds.com, retail investors can make better decisions and be more assured they're receiving reasonable prices." With the addition of real-time corporate data, InvestinginBonds.com now provides free price data for three major bond categories: municipal, corporate and U.S. Treasury debt (Treasury data are available after a slight delay). The site has also been totally redesigned and re-launched to provide retail investors access to even more news and information, including daily market commentary and a broad range of market indices and economic indicators. The site is designed to help investors of all levels, from the beginner to the experienced equity investor to the most sophisticated bond investor. "InvestinginBonds.com is intended to benefit investors across the board," said Mr. Green. "It's a tangible fulfillment of our mission to educate and inform investors, a mission which we take very seriously." Even before the changes, the site has been exceptionally popular with investors. The site registered over 1.5 million visitors last year and received an average of 4.5 million "hits" per month. After the site began carrying free real-time municipal bond prices last week, the number of users has tripled and the average visit has lengthened from eight minutes to over 36 minutes. The Bond Market Association, with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., and London, represents securities firms and banks that underwrite, trade and sell debt securities and other financial products globally.