GHYB vs USHY

GHYBAGoldman Sachs Access High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

USHYAiShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

In short

GHYB Most cheap high-yield ETFs just buy the whole junk-bond market. GHYB tracks an index Goldman co-designed with FTSE that screens the universe first, and charges well under the typical high-yield ETF.

USHY The wide-angle lens on junk bonds: about 1,900 US dollar high yield corporate issues for 0.08% a year, a fifth of what the typical fund in its category charges. Broad, cheap, heavily traded, and it pays monthly.

Stated mandate

GHYB The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Citi Goldman Sachs High Yield Corporate Bond Index, which measures U.S.-dollar-denominated high-yield corporate bonds.

USHY The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds.

Why people hold it

• GHYB 0.15% a year against a roughly 0.40% median for high-yield bond ETFs. In a coupon-driven asset, fee drag comes straight out of the income.
• The screened index is the point: a rules-based cut of the broad FTSE high-yield market, built with Goldman, not a plain market-cap sweep.gs.com
• Tracks its index very tightly, with roughly 600 bonds and monthly distributions doing the work.
• One of the stronger builds in a crowded high-yield field, and it has been running since 2017.

• USHY Charges 0.08% a year while the median high yield fund in its cohort runs 0.40%. Cheap rent on an expensive-to-run corner of the bond market.
• Holds about 1,900 bonds against the ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index: the broad market, not a curated slice of the most liquid names.ishares.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund and one of the more actively traded in high yield, which tends to keep bid-ask spreads thin even on busy days.
• Pays monthly and has tracked its index tightly since its 2017 launch, one of the closer index matches in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• GHYB Thinly traded and modest in size next to the category giants, which usually shows up as wider bid-ask spreads.
• SCYB, SPHY and USHY charge less for full-market high-yield exposure. Here you pay a bit more for the screen.
• Screens do not remove credit risk. This is below-investment-grade corporate debt and it moves with the credit cycle.

• USHY High yield means below-investment-grade borrowers. When credit gets stressed this asset class drops with stocks instead of cushioning them.
• Cheaper tickets sit on the same shelf: SCYB at 0.03% and SPHY at 0.05%.
• This is a fund, not a bond ladder. No maturity date hands your principal back; the basket rolls on indefinitely.

Full GHYB profile⁠

Full USHY profile⁠