AGG vs NXUS

AGGAiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

NXUSBNuveen International 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.

NXUS Most "aggregate bond" ETFs stop at the US border. NXUS starts there: roughly 3,200 investment-grade bonds from developed and emerging markets, none of them in dollars, with the currency risk hedged back to USD monthly, for 0.08% a year.

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.

NXUS The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD (Hedged) Index. Its strategy may also use debt securities outside the Index, including asset-backed securities.

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.

• NXUS 0.08% a year, below the category median, and that is the real fare: gross and net fees are the same number, with no waiver propping it up.
• Roughly 3,200 bonds (sovereign, corporate, securitized) across about two dozen local-currency markets, developed and emerging. One of the broader portfolios in its peer group.sec.govsec.gov 2
• The index hedges its non-dollar exposure back to the US dollar monthly, so what you hold is foreign interest-rate exposure rather than a view on the dollar.sec.gov
• AGG, BND, SPAB and SCHZ each charge 0.03% and each stops at the US border. This is the ex-US half they leave out, and it pays monthly.

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.

• NXUS The hedge resets monthly, so dollar moves between reset dates flow through. Hedging dampens currency swings rather than removing them.sec.gov
• Investment grade only: the index excludes subordinated, convertible, floating-rate and inflation-linked bonds. No high-yield kicker.sec.gov
• It launched in September 2025, so the record is short, and it trades more lightly than the US core giants, which can show up in bid-ask spreads.

Full AGG profile⁠

Full NXUS profile⁠