GII vs NUIF

GIIAState Street SPDR S&P Global Infrastructure ETF

NUIFBNuveen US Infrastructure ETF

In short

GII Toll roads, airports, pipelines and power grids in one ticker. GII has tracked the S&P Global Infrastructure Index since 2007, an early entrant in the category, and charges less than the typical infrastructure fund.

NUIF Infrastructure without an index: Nuveen's team hand-picks roughly 40 US owners and operators of the vital stuff (grids, pipelines, water), chasing growth plus income at 0.55% a year.

Stated mandate

GII The fund seeks to track the total return of the S&P Global Infrastructure Index. That index provides exposure to large publicly listed infrastructure companies across transportation, utilities, and energy infrastructure.

NUIF Seeks long-term growth of capital and income. Under normal conditions, it invests at least 80% in equity securities of infrastructure-related companies economically tied to the U.S., with limited non-U.S. exposure.

Why people hold it

• GII Tracks an index of 75 of the largest listed infrastructure companies, screened for float and liquidity, spread across transportation, utilities and energy infrastructure in developed and emerging markets.ssga.com
• 0.40% a year against a 0.55% median for infrastructure ETFs. The cheap end of a category that often is not cheap.
• Live since 2007, so the record covers the financial crisis, a decade of low rates and the 2022 rate shock. It rates among the strongest implementations in its infrastructure peer group.

• NUIF At least 80% sits in US-tied infrastructure equities: companies that own or operate vital structures, facilities and services. Toll-booth assets, not a construction-cycle bet.nuveen.com
• No declared index to copy. Nuveen's investment team builds the book itself, leaning toward infrastructure names it considers overlooked and attractively valued.nuveen.com
• 0.55% a year for active management undercuts the typical fund in the infrastructure group, where plenty of rules-based rivals charge more.
• Income is written into the mandate, not bolted on: the stated goal is long-term growth of capital and income from businesses with typically stable cash flows.nuveen.com

Worth knowing

• GII IGF follows the same index for 0.37%, three basis points less. GII's own trading is moderate rather than heavy, so spreads count alongside the fee gap.
• Roughly 70 stocks across three sectors and several currencies. A focused, globally scattered book that can behave quite differently from a broad world equity fund.ssga.com
• Distributions arrive on an annual or semiannual schedule, so cash lands in lumps rather than monthly.

• NUIF Launched in 2026 and still small, it trades thinly, so spreads can be wide and limit orders matter more than with the group's giants.
• Non-diversified and concentrated in about 40 names, so a single stumble lands harder than it would in a broad infrastructure index fund.usnews.com
• The active fee is real: index alternatives in the same cohort, IFRA at 0.30% and PAVE at 0.47%, cost less for infrastructure exposure.

Full GII profile⁠

Full NUIF profile⁠