03 December 2014
Duration is an approximate measure of a bond's price sensitivity to changes in interest rates. If a bond has a duration of 6 years, for example, its price will rise about 6% if its yield drops by a percentage point (100 basis points), and its price will fall by about 6% if its yield rises by that amount.
he term "maturity" when used to refer to bonds generally means one of two related things:
1. The actual date the bond is "cashed out" by the issuer and an investor receives the face value of that bond .For example, a bond might have a "maturity of June 1, 2025."
or,
2. The length of time until a fixed income investment returns its original investment at the date mentioned above. For example, someone might say that a bond has "a 5-year maturity."