GIGB vs MBBB

GIGBAGoldman Sachs Access Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

MBBBCVanEck Moody’s Analytics BBB Corporate Bond ETF

In short

GIGB Most investment-grade corporate bond funds just buy the biggest borrowers. Goldman's index screens the market on liquidity and fundamentals first, then spreads the money across roughly 1,600 bonds for 0.08% a year.

MBBB BBB is the crowded bottom rung of investment grade. MBBB doesn't just buy the whole rung: it tracks a Moody's Analytics index that screens for BBB bonds that look attractively valued with comparatively lower downgrade risk.

Stated mandate

GIGB The Fund seeks to track the FTSE Goldman Sachs Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index, which measures U.S.-dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds meeting liquidity and fundamental screening criteria.

MBBB The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the MVIS Moody’s Analytics US BBB Corporate Bond Index, which selects attractively valued BBB-rated corporate bonds with comparatively lower downgrade risk.

Why people hold it

• GIGB Costs 0.08% a year, well under the typical investment-grade corporate bond ETF's 0.19%.
• The index screens US dollar investment-grade corporates for liquidity and fundamentals rather than simply following who borrowed the most.gsam.com
• Tracks that index about as tightly as passive bond funds get, and holds roughly 1,600 bonds so no single issuer carries the load.
• Pays monthly, matching how corporate bond coupons tend to land in a portfolio.

• MBBB A credit screen, not a size-weighted index. The MVIS Moody's Analytics US BBB index selects on valuation and downgrade risk, which is the risk that actually matters at the edge of investment grade.vaneck.com
• It does the job it advertises: the portfolio has hugged its stated index closely, which is the whole assignment for a rules-based bond fund.
• Roughly 170 corporate bonds, spread across a single credit tier, with distributions paid on a monthly cadence.

Worth knowing

• GIGB Cheap, but not the cheapest shelf: VCIT, USIG and SPIB run at 0.03% to 0.04%. You are paying a few basis points for the screening.
• Broad-maturity corporate credit moves on two levers, interest rates and credit spreads, so it swings more than short-dated bond funds.
• A mid-sized, moderately traded fund rather than a giant, so trading spreads can run wider than the largest names in the category.

• MBBB The screen costs 0.25% a year. Plain-vanilla corporate bond giants like VCIT, USIG and SPIB run at a few basis points, so the model has to earn that gap.
• Small and thinly traded since its 2020 launch, so spreads can run wider than in the household-name corporate bond funds.
• By design it holds a filtered slice of BBB debt, not the whole market, so results can drift from a standard investment-grade corporate benchmark in either direction.

Full GIGB profile⁠

Full MBBB profile⁠