MARKETS REPORTING - FIXED INCOME

Interest rates change rapidly when global international bond markets absorb both financial and political information. This course offers journalists a chance to understand and write with authority about how monetary policy and central bank operations in treasury bill markets affect the base level of interests rates. It also then looks at spreads along a yield curve that determine the cost of borrowing in the corporate bond markets, and the importance of debt funding in the corporate sector.

Journalism skills addressed during the course

1. •News judgment
   

2. •Cultivating sources and obtaining exclusive stories
   

3. •Handling central bank news releases
   

4. •Writing authoritative bond and bill market reports
   

5. •Writing with authority about monetary policy
   

6. •Covering interest rate changes
   

7. •Reporting open market committee announcements
   

8. •Interviews with market participants
   

9. •Writing accurate, balanced stories quickly with solid context
   

10. •Writing good leads and headlines
    

11. •Knowledge of legal dangers.
    

Financial subjects addressed during the course

1. •Monetary policy and interest rates determination
   

2. •Central bank operations
   

3. •Yield curves
   

4. •Bill, note and bond markets and their derivatives
   

5. •Corporate bonds and company gearing
   

6. •Credit rating agencies.
   

Financial terms explained during the course

Yields and bond prices, Open market operations (OMO), repos, bills, notes and bond, credit ratings, downgrades, inter-bank money markets, Fed funds, monetary policy, concept of money, its measurement and control, commercial and investment banking, corporate debt and balance sheet gearing, yield curves, spreads, credit derivatives, swaps, convertible bonds, zero coupon bonds, strips and discounted cash flow.

Course Objectives 

After completing the course, participants can expect to be able to:

1. •Demonstrate confidence in reporting on, and writing about, money markets
   

2. •Cover bill issues and auctions
   

3. •Report central bank open market operations
   

4. •Recognise the implications of money market developments for economic policy, interest rate direction and other markets such as equities and commodities
   

5. •Explain how governments and companies issue bills
   

6. •Cover a ratings agency announcement
   

7. •Handle a major interest rate change
   

8. •Write with authority about monetary policy developments
   

9. •Explain the relationship between bond prices and yields
   

Use changes in money market spreads to generate exclusive stories.

Course Outline

Participants working in pairs write their way through a case study that traces the impact of a major development in the banking industry on bond, equity and money markets. During this exercise, participants are introduced steadily to new financial terms and, as a review, will be required to incorporate them as context into the evolving story. The pairs will switch alternately from writing bond market reports to covering the breaking story, improving their performance using feedback from experienced copy coaches. Throughout the course learning reviews require participants in facilitated discussions to extract learning points from the output of all writers, including trainer versions, and they will be asked to build a personal action plan of post-course targets.

Pre-course work

Pre-course reading, learning agreements and a short evaluation to establish existing knowledge of bond markets trading and monetary policy.