Category Review
Municipal bond funds are down for the year after a third-quarter selloff erased the first-half gain
Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond
$21.19+0.03 (+0.14%)
- 0.12%
- $484M
- −2.1%
- 4.20%
- 0.1M sh
- $21.14
- low $21.01high $22.71
The ETF.net NUBD Grade
A
Score 73 out of 100
- 24 of 117
Score 73 of 100 falls in the A 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.A79 out of 100Rank 24 of 117Mission
Whether the fund did what it promised, tested against its stated mandate.A100 out of 100Rank 1 of 101Risk
How the fund held up when markets fell: downside volatility, drawdowns and tail loss.C50 out of 100Rank 39 of 116Tradability
How easy the fund is to trade: daily volume, and how far its price strays from net asset value.C46 out of 100Rank 66 of 117Holdings
How concentrated the fund is, and how complete and current its disclosed holdings are.A72 out of 100Rank 28 of 116Durability
Whether the fund is likely to stay open, judged by its age, its assets and its issuer’s assets.B64 out of 100Rank 45 of 117
Our read on NUBD
AThe core bond index, run through an ESG filter. NUBD tracks a Bloomberg MSCI U.S. Aggregate ESG Select benchmark across roughly 2,400 investment-grade bonds, at a fraction of what the typical bond fund in its group charges.
The Fund passively invests in diversified U.S. investment-grade bonds that meet environmental, social and governance criteria and seeks to track the Bloomberg Barclays MSCI U.S. Aggregate ESG Select Index before fees and expenses.
Why people hold it
- 0.12% a year, versus a category median around 0.36%. In a low-yield asset class, that gap is most of what an investor actually controls.
- Live since 2017, making it one of the longer-running ESG-screened aggregate bond ETFs rather than a recent launch chasing the theme.
- Roughly 2,400 investment-grade bonds, so no single issuer drives the fund, and it pays monthly like a plain core bond holding.
- Clean mandate: a standard U.S. aggregate bond exposure with the ESG screen layered on top, and it ranks in the top quartile of a 187-fund aggregate bond group.
Worth knowing
- The unscreened giants (BND, SPAB, SCHZ) run at 0.03%. The ESG screen carries a real, if small, price tag over vanilla aggregate exposure.
- Mid-sized and only moderately traded next to the household-name bond ETFs, which can show up as wider spreads at the point of trade.
- The screen changes which bonds it owns, not how it behaves: this is still a full aggregate mandate, so prices move with interest rates.
NUBD Holdings
- Bonds
- 2,490
- 11%
- Us T-Note 4.375% 07/31/31
NUBD Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Not enough history yet.
NUBD$9,790
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 | NUBD |
|---|---|
| Year to date | −2.5% |
| 1 month | −1.1% |
| 3 months | −2.6% |
| 1 year | −2.1% |
| 3 years | +4.2% |
| 5 years | −0.6% |
| 10 years | — |
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 | NUBD |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | −2.5% | |
| 2025 | +6.8% | |
| 2024 | +1.3% | |
| 2023 | +5.4% | |
| 2022 | −12.9% | |
| 2021 | −2.2% | |
| 2020 | +7.2% |
NUBD in the news
NUBD Dividends
- 4.20%
- $0.89
- $0.08 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
NUBD Risk
- 5.5%
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.
- −0.09
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.
- −17.2%
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.
- 1.00
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
NUBD Cost
0.12%
NUBD0.12%
- The middle half of US Aggregate Bond funds
- Median 0.34%
21 of the 113 US Aggregate Bond funds charge less.
Other funds in US Aggregate Bond
- ACGCBCapital Group Core Bond ETFExpense ratio 0.27%1 year return −2.2%
- AIMTBiShares Core 5-10 Year USD Bond ETFExpense ratio 0.07%1 year return −2.0%
- AUNIYWisdomTree Voya Yield Enhanced USD Universal Bond FundExpense ratio 0.15%1 year return −1.8%
- AGCORGoldman Sachs Access U.S. Aggregate Bond ETFExpense ratio 0.09%1 year return −2.1%
- AILTBiShares Core 10+ Year USD Bond ETFExpense ratio 0.06%1 year return −6.9%