BHYB vs SPHY

BHYBAXtrackers USD High Yield BB-B ex Financials ETF

SPHYAState Street SPDR Portfolio High Yield Bond ETF

In short

BHYB High yield with two filters bolted on: no CCC-rated bonds, no financial issuers. You get the BB and B middle of the junk market, at 0.20% a year, half the typical cost in its category.

SPHY State Street's junk-bond workhorse: roughly 1,900 US high yield bonds in one wrapper for 0.05% a year, a fraction of what the typical high yield ETF charges, with income paid monthly.

Stated mandate

BHYB The fund uses a passive representative-sampling strategy to track its Underlying Index, investing primarily in U.S.-dollar-denominated below-investment-grade corporate bonds that meet the index's BB-to-B credit-rating range and exclude financial issuers.

SPHY The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the ICE BofA US High Yield Index.

Why people hold it

• BHYB Costs 0.20% a year against a 0.40% median for high yield bond ETFs. Cheap for a screened portfolio rather than a plain index scoop.
• The rulebook does the credit work: US dollar bonds in the BB-to-B band only, financial issuers excluded. The lowest-rated CCC tier never enters.
• Roughly 1,500 bonds held via representative sampling, with cash paid out monthly.
• Sits among the strongest builds in a crowded high yield field, backed by a multi-billion-dollar asset base.

• SPHY 0.05% a year against a peer-group median about eight times higher. In high yield, the fee comes straight out of coupon income, so the gap does real work.
• Holds about 1,900 bonds tracking the ICE BofA US High Yield Index, broad enough that no single issuer's trouble dominates the portfolio.ssga.com
• Live since 2012, a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively and has stuck tightly to its stated index rather than drifting from the mandate.
• Distributions arrive monthly, in step with how the underlying coupons come in.

Worth knowing

• BHYB Broad high yield costs less: SCYB at 0.03%, SPHY and Xtrackers' own HYLB at 0.05%, USHY at 0.08%. The screens carry a price.
• Skipping banks, insurers and CCC credits means the ride can diverge from broad high yield benchmarks in both directions.
• Launched in 2023, so the track record is short, and it trades at moderate volume rather than as a category workhorse.

• SPHY This is below-investment-grade credit. Defaults and spread moves drive the price far more than Treasury yields do, and sell-offs in this asset class can be sharp.
• Fees here are already near the floor: SCYB lists 0.03% and HYLB matches at 0.05%, so the cost edge over the strongest peers is narrow.
• Scope is US high yield corporates, full stop. No investment-grade ballast, no emerging market debt, nothing to soften a credit drawdown from inside the fund.ssga.com

Full BHYB profile⁠

Full SPHY profile⁠