Category Review
Municipal bond funds are down for the year after a third-quarter selloff erased the first-half gain
Invesco Taxable Municipal Bond ETF
$25.430.00 (0.00%)
- 0.28%
- $848M
- −3.1%
- 4.46%
- 0.3M sh
- $25.40
- low $25.15high $27.73
The ETF.net BAB Grade
B
Score 60 out of 100
- 25 of 63
Score 60 of 100 falls in the B band. A is 70 or higher, B 55 to under 70, C 40 to under 55, D 25 to under 40, F under 25.
Cost
The fund’s net expense ratio, ranked against its category.B61 out of 100Rank 22 of 63Mission
Whether the fund did what it promised, tested against its stated mandate.C42 out of 100Rank 59 of 59Risk
How the fund held up when markets fell: downside volatility, drawdowns and tail loss.B62 out of 100Rank 9 of 63Tradability
How easy the fund is to trade: daily volume, and how far its price strays from net asset value.A73 out of 100Rank 10 of 63Holdings
How concentrated the fund is, and how complete and current its disclosed holdings are.A73 out of 100Rank 19 of 63Durability
Whether the fund is likely to stay open, judged by its age, its assets and its issuer’s assets.A79 out of 100Rank 8 of 63
Our read on BAB
BMunis without the tax break. BAB has owned taxable municipal debt since 2009, the Build America Bonds corner of the market, and pays monthly income the IRS treats like any other taxable coupon.
The Fund normally invests at least 80% of its total assets in securities comprising the ICE BofAML US Taxable Municipal Securities Plus Index. It uses representative sampling rather than purchasing every index security.
Why people hold it
- Launched in 2009, the same year Congress created Build America Bonds, and still a billion-dollar fund in a crowded muni aisle.en.wikipedia.org
- Costs 0.28% a year, under the 0.30% median for its muni bond peer group.
- Spreads across roughly 1,900 bonds, sampling the ICE BofA US Taxable Municipal Securities Plus Index rather than buying every piece of it.invesco.com
- Pays monthly, and changes hands often enough to handle ordinary-size orders.
Worth knowing
- Taxable is in the name: interest here is federally taxable, unlike the tax-free coupons most muni funds hand out.sifma.org
- Cheap against muni peers, not against the giants: broad tax-exempt funds like VTEB and SCMB charge 0.03%.
- No new Build America Bonds since the program lapsed at the end of 2010, so the index casts wider, across taxable municipal securities generally.sifma.org
BAB Holdings
- Bonds
- 2,139
- 10%
- State of Illinois 5.10% 06/01/2033
BAB Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
BAB$9,688
Returns run to the Oct 12, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | BAB |
|---|---|
| Year to date | −3.4% |
| 1 month | −1.7% |
| 3 months | −3.5% |
| 1 year | −3.1% |
| 3 years | +4.7% |
| 5 years | −1.4% |
| 10 years | +1.7% |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | BAB |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | −3.4% | |
| 2025 | +8.3% | |
| 2024 | +1.0% | |
| 2023 | +8.7% | |
| 2022 | −19.5% | |
| 2021 | +1.0% | |
| 2020 | +9.1% |
BAB in the news
BAB Dividends
- 4.46%
- $1.13
- $0.10 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
BAB Risk
- 7.1%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- −0.03
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −24.7%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.98
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
BAB Cost
0.28%
BAB0.28%
- The middle half of Other Municipal Bond funds
- Median 0.30%
22 of the 63 Other Municipal Bond funds charge less.
Other funds in Other Municipal Bond
- BPMIOPGIM Municipal Income Opportunities ETFExpense ratio 0.25%1 year return −0.6%
- BFTMUFranklin Municipal Income ETFExpense ratio 0.30%1 year return —
- BMUSTColumbia Multi-Sector Municipal Income ETFExpense ratio 0.23%1 year return −2.8%
- BRVNUXtrackers Municipal Infrastructure Revenue Bond Active ETFExpense ratio 0.15%1 year return −2.6%
- BFLMBFranklin Municipal Green Bond ETFExpense ratio 0.30%1 year return −4.0%