International Securities and Markets

          Dept and equity markets also are well developed in many foreign countries. Corporations domiciled in foreign countries are able to issue bonds and stocks in their own home currencies and markets. Corporations also sell their stocks in securities markets outside their home countries as a way of broadening investor recognition and raising more funds. For example, a U.S corporation may simultaneously sell a new stock issue in the United States and in Germany and Italy.
          Corporation and governments also can sell debt securities in the Eurobond and foreign bond markets. A Eurobond is a bond denominated in U.S dollars that is sold to investors located outside the United States. For example, a German corporation may sell a $20-million Eurobond to German and Swiss investors that will pay interest and repay the amount borrowed at maturity in U.S. Dollars. Likewise a U.S. corporation may issue its own $20-million U.S. dollar-denominated Eurobond for sale to German and Dutch investors. In contrast, a foreign bond is a bond issued by a corporation or government that is denominated in the currency of a foreign country where it is sold. For example, a U.S. corporation may issue bond denominated in euros to investors in Belgium and the Netherlands. The euro is the common currency that has replaced the individual currencies of 12 member countries of the European Union.