GEMD vs XEMD

GEMDBGoldman Sachs Access Emerging Markets USD Bond ETF

XEMDABondBloxx JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets 1-10 Year Bond ETF

In short

GEMD Emerging market debt priced in dollars, not local currency: the risk you take is issuer credit, not the peso. Goldman tracks a rules-based index of roughly 150 EM bonds for 0.30% and pays monthly.

XEMD J.P. Morgan's flagship emerging-markets dollar-bond index with the long end trimmed off: sovereign and quasi-sovereign debt maturing inside 10 years, priced in US dollars, for 0.29% a year.

Stated mandate

GEMD The Fund seeks to track the performance of the FTSE Goldman Sachs Emerging Markets USD Bond Index before fees and expenses. It normally invests at least 80% of assets, excluding securities-lending collateral, in securities included in that index.

XEMD The Fund seeks to track an index of U.S.-dollar-denominated emerging-market bonds with an average life below 10 years.

Why people hold it

• GEMD Every bond is dollar denominated, so the exposure hinges on emerging market issuers' credit rather than currency swings against the dollar.
• At 0.30%, it undercuts iShares' EMB, the household name in dollar EM debt, which charges 0.39%.
• Rules, not hunches: at least 80% of assets sit in its FTSE Goldman Sachs index, spread across roughly 150 bonds, with cash paid out monthly.
• What's inside matches what the prospectus promises, with no off-mandate sleeves bolted on.

• XEMD Costs 0.29% a year, below the median fee among the emerging-markets funds we grade, and it pays monthly.
• Tracks the 1-10 year slice of the EMBI Global Diversified family, leaving out the 20- and 30-year paper that drives the biggest rate swings.jpmorgan.com
• The index caps each country at 10% and admits only bonds with at least $1 billion outstanding, so no single borrower dominates and thin issues are screened out.jpmorgan.com
• Every bond is dollar-denominated, so local-currency moves stay out of returns. It grades in the top quartile of its emerging-markets peer group.

Worth knowing

• GEMD Broad EM equity trackers like VWO and SCHE cost 0.06%. Different asset class, but this sits at the pricier end of the emerging markets aisle.
• It's a small fund and among the thinner traders in its group, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads than the category's giants.
• Launched in 2022, so the operating history is short next to long-running EM bond funds.

• XEMD This is emerging-market government and quasi-government credit: default and spread risk stay on the table, even without currency risk.jpmorgan.com
• Stopping near 10 years cuts rate sensitivity, but it also means no exposure to the long-dated EM bonds some allocations lean on.jpmorgan.com
• Launched in 2022, moderately traded, and holding roughly 200 bonds: younger and narrower than the category's long-running giants.

Full GEMD profile⁠

Full XEMD profile⁠