Duration

A measure of the price sensitivity of a to changes in interest rates. Duration is measured in units of time. It includes the effects of time until maturity, cash flows and the yield to maturity. Duration is mostly stated in years; the shorter the duration, the less price variability you can expect in the fund´s price per share. More precise it is a mathematical measure of a bond's (or bond fund´s portfolio or debt ) volatility or the sensitivity of its price to changes in interest rates (defined as the weighted average of the number of years in the bond's / bond fund's or debt's life, the weighting factor being the present value of the cash flows discounted at the redemption yield(s)).