When bonds are originally issued, most sell at prices close to par and offer coupon rates close to the market rates on bonds of similar maturity and risk. Over the life of a bond, its price will vary inversely to, or in the opposite direction of interest rate fluctuations in the economy. As interest rates rise in the economy, bond prices fall; as interest rates fall, bond prices rise. Since one rises as the other falls, we call this relationship between bond prices and interest rates the ‘‘seesaw effect.’’