The prices of fixed income products, such as bonds, are most impacted by changes in credit quality (default risk) and movements in interest rates. The sensitivity to changes in interest rates can be represented by duration, measured in units of time (years) similar to maturity. While there are many methods to calculate duration (e.g. Modified, Macaulay, Effective), a simplistic approach can be represented by identifying the point in time in a bond’s life when half the total cash flows for a bond will be received. For a zero coupon bond, where the only payment is received upon maturity, the duration equals the maturity date. For bonds with high coupon rates, upfront payments of principal, or high likelihood of early call, duration (interest rate sensitivity) will be significantly less than the maturity of the bond. The duration, therefore, represents when yield changes along the interest rate curve (short, medium or long) will most impact the price of a particular bond.