Four Web sites for tracking elusive bond prices

By Shawn Langlois
CBS MarketWatch
Friday March 12, 12:34 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Tracking bond prices isn't as easy as pulling up a stock quote just yet, and that can leave buyers clueless as to whether they're getting a good deal.

But that's beginning to change as the wall between bond dealer and bond investor continues to erode.

At this point, however, bond quotes still aren't available in real time like equities, and until that changes investors will have to settle for pricing on a delayed basis.

Despite pressure from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Association of Securities Dealers and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, there's still much to be done to insure accurate trade reporting and pricing.

"Regulators and the association have been strongly in favor of greater price availability, and more and more data is being provided faster," said a Bond Market Association spokesperson. "Starting next year, investors will have access to well over 90 percent of municipal prices within fifteen minutes."

As a move in the right direction, the MSRB will require real-time reporting from bond brokers in January 2005 -- a big step for an industry often known for its steep, and hidden, mark-ups.

Until then, delayed quotes will have to suffice. Fortunately, there are bond-tracking Web sites than can facilitate a comprehensive search.

Some good sites for pricing
The Bond Market Association's InvestingInBonds.com, for instance, lists all the most recent municipal, corporate and Treasury bond trades for free and in one convenient spot.

Muni bond quotes are delayed by a day and corporate bond prices, courtesy of Reuters, are updated with a four-hour lapse, just as they are on the NASD site.

InvestingInBonds.com, which covers everything bond related, also serves as a gateway to many other pertinent sites and a good launch point for any fresh investor's foray into the fixed-income market.

Municipal bond quotes can also be found free of charge on MunicipalBonds.com. This site lists all trades from the day before in an easy-to-read format that closely resembles closing stock tables. The site also publishes potentially illegal spreads in an attempt to uncover the shenanigans that have historically plagued the bond market.

BondsOnlineQuotes.com is an extensive site that covers much more than up-to-date bond prices. The company claims to provide current and past prices for every security in the world, ranging from stocks to mutual funds to international securities. Bonds Online, the primary site, can also be used as an effective screener and trading platform.

"Historical pricing has actually been very difficult to find for the retail investor," said David Landes, CEO of BondsOnline.com. "We cover every security out there going back years."

But the depth of coverage at his quote site comes with a price. For corporate bonds: $2 each. Municipal bonds: $3 each.

Sounds expensive, but to get all that information in one place, Bloomberg is really the only other alternative, according to the company. And the high cost of Bloomberg terminals virtually prices out the small investor, which makes up a large percentage of BondsOnlineQuote.com's clients.

Finally, NASDBondInfo.com is another comprehensive bond-tracking site, which covers the corporate-debt side. When the SEC approved rules requiring NASD members to report fixed-income transactions, the NASD developed the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine. Via this site's search function, investors can see all corporate bond trades delayed four hours.