FIGB vs SPBO

FIGBCFidelity Investment Grade Bond ETF

SPBOAState Street SPDR Portfolio Corporate Bond ETF

In short

FIGB The name says investment grade, but Fidelity's managers can also reach into high yield and emerging-market debt while keeping interest-rate risk near the Agg. A credit-picking fund wearing a core-bond duration profile.

SPBO The whole investment-grade corporate bond market in one ticker for three basis points. Most rivals sell you a maturity slice; SPBO owns the lot, and it undercuts other funds tracking the very same Bloomberg index.

Stated mandate

FIGB The fund seeks a high level of current income by investing primarily in debt securities across investment-grade, high-yield, and emerging-market segments, while maintaining interest-rate risk similar to the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index.

SPBO The fund seeks investment results that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Corporate Bond Index.

Why people hold it

• FIGB Active by design: the managers hunt income across investment-grade, high-yield and emerging-market debt while holding interest-rate risk similar to the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate.
• A 0.36% expense ratio sits right at the median of its core-bond peer group, which is uncommon for a live manager competing against index trackers.
• Income is paid monthly, and the book is a focused roughly 180 positions rather than a thousands-strong index sleeve.
• The portfolio has stayed closely aligned with what its documents promise, and it lands in the upper half of its core-bond peer group.

• SPBO 0.03% a year against a category median of 0.19%. In bond land, where the yield does the heavy lifting, that fee gap is not a rounding error.
• Thousands of corporate bonds across the full maturity range, so you hold the broad IG corporate market instead of one duration bucket.ssga.com
• Same index, very different tolls: KORP charges 0.29%, JLQD 0.35%, JHCB 0.53%. SPBO sits at the cheap end of that list.
• Running since 2011, pays monthly, and tracks its benchmark about as closely as anything in the investment-grade corporate group.

Worth knowing

• FIGB Index Aggs like BND and SPAB charge 0.03%. At 0.36%, you are paying roughly twelve times as much for the active credit calls.
• The high-yield and emerging-market sleeves carry credit risk a plain investment-grade index tracker would not take on.
• Moderately traded and mid-sized next to the giant index Aggs, so spreads can run wider, which shows up most on large or hurried orders.

• SPBO Full maturity range means long-dated paper is in the mix, so the price moves more when rates move than short-maturity peers like IGSB or SPIB.
• Corporate credit only. No Treasuries or mortgages to lean on, so the fund rides the health of corporate borrowers as well as the rate cycle.ssga.com
• Investment grade by design, US issuers only. No high-yield or emerging-market bonds in the basket.

Full FIGB profile⁠

Full SPBO profile⁠