September 03, 2026 – New York -- Egan-Jones Ratings Co. has published an analysis showing how a fixed income investor can select a top-tier issuer, complete rigorous due diligence, and still lose roughly half of a position's value.
Apple's 2060 notes have fallen from par to about 51 cents on the dollar
The commentary centers on Apple's 2.55 percent senior notes due 2060, issued in August 2020 at approximately par. The bonds traded near 68 percent of par in December 2023 and have since dropped further, with a Frankfurt Stock Exchange quote of 50.92 on August 27, 2026. Egan-Jones attributes the decline to rising longer-term interest rates, a heavy supply of AI-related debt crowding the market, and broader investor unease, compounded by a security that was priced to perfection at issuance.
Credit quality is not the cause of the loss, Egan-Jones finds
Apple retains strong investment-grade characteristics in the firm's assessment, including sound management, robust cash flow, and an established product line. Egan-Jones walks through a hypothetical portfolio manager who reviewed those fundamentals, found the coupon competitive against other AA+ rated instruments, and committed to a multi-year position. The firm concludes the process was not careless; the risks that produced the loss sat entirely outside the credit assessment.
Diversification within similar assets offers limited protection, the firm notes
Egan-Jones contrasts the outcome with a portfolio resembling a typical business development company, where roughly 2.5 percent of loans are non-accruing and the average interest rate runs near 8 percent. In that structure, interest earned on performing holdings would have more than offset credit losses. Egan-Jones stresses this is not a claim that investment-grade debt is riskier than speculative-grade debt, but that the full range of risks facing a security deserves weight alongside issuer quality.
Egan-Jones urges investors to weigh total risk, not issuer strength alone
The firm concludes that a clear understanding of all risks attaching to an investment is usually the best safeguard, and that some of the most damaging risks are not readily apparent at purchase. For fixed income investors, the case illustrates how far a bond's market outcome can diverge from its issuer's underlying financial standing.