HTAX vs HYMB

HTAXCNomura National High-Yield Municipal Bond ETF

HYMBAState Street SPDR Nuveen ICE High Yield Municipal Bond ETF

In short

HTAX Most muni ETFs stick to the safest paper. HTAX heads down the credit ladder on purpose, running Macquarie's flagship high-yield muni playbook in an ETF: active, federally tax-exempt income from medium- and lower-grade bonds, paid monthly.

HYMB Most muni index funds stop at investment grade. HYMB keeps going: its benchmark reaches from A-rated paper down through unrated deals, spreading roughly 1,900 tax-exempt bonds across that credit line. Income lands monthly.

Stated mandate

HTAX The fund seeks a high level of current interest income that is exempt from regular federal income tax, primarily by investing in municipal securities.

HYMB The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the ICE US Select High Yield Crossover Municipal Index, which covers lower-rated and unrated tax-exempt municipal debt issued in the United States.

Why people hold it

• HTAX Runs the same yield-focused objective and process as Macquarie's flagship high-yield muni mutual fund, managed by the firm's municipal bond team.macquarie.com
• At least 80% of net assets sits in municipal securities whose income is exempt from federal income tax, tilted toward medium- and lower-grade issuers.sec.gov
• Pays monthly, and the 0.49% management fee is the whole sticker: no 12b-1 fees, no separate other expenses.sec.gov

• HYMB The crossover mandate is the whole point: the index covers lower-rated (A3/A+ or lower) and unrated tax-exempt debt, not another top-grade general-obligation ladder.ssga.com
• About 1,900 bonds dilute any single issuer's trouble, and State Street has run the fund since 2011, through more than one muni credit scare.
• One of the more actively traded funds in the muni ETF aisle, which counts in a market where the underlying bonds themselves can sit still for weeks. Pays monthly.

Worth knowing

• HTAX At 0.49% it costs well above plain index muni ETFs like VTEB (0.03%) and MUB (0.05%). Active credit work is what you are paying up for.
• Medium- and lower-grade munis carry more default and liquidity risk than an investment-grade index fund, so prices can swing harder when credit gets nervous.sec.gov
• A 2025 launch with a short record, and it trades lightly next to the category's giants, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads.

• HYMB 0.35% a year is the toll for assembling illiquid paper. Broad, plain-vanilla muni index funds such as VTEB and SCMB charge 0.03%.
• Lower-rated and unrated munis carry default and downgrade risk that top-rated general-obligation bonds don't, and prices can move sharply when muni buyers step back.
• The benchmark has been swapped before (Bloomberg to ICE in 2025), so older track records reflect a different index than the one the fund follows now.ssga.com

Full HTAX profile⁠

Full HYMB profile⁠