FIXED INCOME

A comprehensive guide covering all essential topics for the CFA Level 1 exam.

01

Instrument Features

Bond basics, yield measures, and legal frameworks.

02

Cash Flows and Types

Cash flow structures, embedded options, and legal aspects.

03

Issuance and Trading

Primary/secondary markets, participants, and market structure.

04

Markets for Corporate Issuers

Corporate funding from short-term to long-term debt.

05

Markets for Government Issuers

Sovereign debt, auction processes, and non-sovereign entities.

06

Bond Valuation: Prices & Yields

DCF analysis, YTM, and matrix pricing techniques.

07

Yield & Spread Measures

Periodicity, embedded options, and spread analysis (OAS, Z-Spread).

08

Yields for Floating-Rate Notes

FRNs, money market instruments, and yield comparisons.

09

The Term Structure

Spot, par, and forward curves and their relationships.

10

Interest Rate Risk & Return

Sources of return, Macaulay duration, and horizon matching.

11

Yield-Based Duration

Macaulay, Modified, and Approximate Duration.

12

Yield-Based Convexity

Convexity calculations, portfolio duration, and risk management.

13

Curve-Based & Empirical Risk

Effective duration, key rate duration, and empirical measures.

14

Credit Risk

Credit analysis, rating agencies, and yield spread factors.

15

Credit Analysis: Government

Sovereign and non-sovereign credit analysis.

16

Credit Analysis: Corporate

Corporate creditworthiness, financial ratios, and seniority.

17

Fixed-Income Securitization

The securitization process, SPEs, benefits, and risks.

18

Asset-Backed Securities (ABS)

ABS structures, covered bonds, credit tranching, and CDOs.

19

Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS)

Mortgage loans, prepayment risk, RMBS, and CMBS.