We find that earnings surprises have information content for bonds, but that the information content is smaller for bonds than for stocks. Our analysis also indicates that the information content of earnings surprises is smaller for investment grade than for non-investment grade bonds. In addition, we find that the information content of negative earnings surprises is larger for profitable firms than for loss firms, and that among profitable firms the information content of negative earnings surprises is larger than the information content of positive earnings surprises. Overall, our results suggest that bondholders' fixed claims on firm assets, and their priority in liquidation, have an important impact on the usefulness of earnings in the corporate bond market.