AGG vs GCOR

AGGAiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

GCORAGoldman Sachs Access U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

In short

AGG Launched in 2003, one of the first funds to pack the entire U.S. investment-grade bond market into a single ticker: Treasuries, corporates and mortgage bonds, three basis points a year, cash paid monthly.

GCOR Not the plain Agg. GCOR tracks a custom FTSE Goldman Sachs index that screens investment-grade bonds for liquidity, seasoning and weakening corporate fundamentals, at 0.08% net of a waiver through December 29, 2026.

Stated mandate

AGG The fund seeks to track the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, providing broad exposure to the total U.S. investment-grade bond market.

GCOR The Fund seeks to closely track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the FTSE Goldman Sachs US Broad Bond Market Index.

Why people hold it

• AGG 0.03% a year against a peer-group median near 0.36%. On a bond fund, the fee comes straight out of the coupon, so the gap matters more than it looks.
• A $100 billion-plus fund and very actively traded, the kind of depth that keeps bid-ask costs down for retail-sized orders.
• Tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate closely, with one of the tightest index-following records in its peer group. Income is distributed monthly.
• Running since 2003, giving it one of the longest track records among U.S. bond index ETFs.

• GCOR Screens are the point: corporate issuers are ranked on operating margin and leverage each quarter, mortgage bonds on seasoning, and the weakest-ranked get trimmed or dropped.lseg.comgsam.com
• At 0.08% net of a waiver through December 29, 2026 (0.09% gross), it undercuts the core-bond category median, rare for a rules-based twist on the Agg.
• Roughly 1,800 bonds spanning Treasuries, agency, mortgage, asset-backed and corporate debt, with income paid monthly.gsam.com
• Tracking has been tight since the 2020 launch, one of the stronger implementations in a crowded core-bond field.

Worth knowing

• AGG Investment grade and U.S. dollar only. High-yield debt and foreign bonds sit outside the mandate, so this is designed as core ballast rather than a yield hunt.
• Rate risk comes as it comes. The index gets tracked whether yields rise or fall, with no manager stepping in to shorten duration.
• The same index is sold by SPAB, SCHZ and BBAG at the same 0.03%. The portfolio is the commodity here; scale and trading depth are the tiebreakers.

• GCOR The vanilla trackers (AGG, BND, SPAB, SCHZ) charge 0.03% with no waiver attached, so the screens cost a few extra basis points.
• By design it holds a different mix than the standard Agg, so its results can drift from the benchmark most core bond funds quote.lseg.com
• Moderately traded and not among the category's giants, so spreads can run wider than the mega-funds'.

Full AGG profile⁠

Full GCOR profile⁠