HYXF vs SPHY

HYXFBiShares ESG Advanced High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

SPHYAState Street SPDR Portfolio High Yield Bond ETF

In short

HYXF High yield with a filter. HYXF tracks a Bloomberg MSCI index of U.S. dollar junk bonds that screens out specified controversial business activities, then pays the income out monthly across roughly 600 issues.

SPHY State Street's junk-bond workhorse: roughly 1,900 US high yield bonds in one wrapper for 0.05% a year, a fraction of what the typical high yield ETF charges, with income paid monthly.

Stated mandate

HYXF The fund seeks high-yield fixed-income exposure and income by tracking an ESG-screened index of U.S. dollar-denominated corporate bonds, with exclusions for specified controversial business activities.

SPHY The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the ICE BofA US High Yield Index.

Why people hold it

• HYXF Screen first, yield second: it tracks the Bloomberg MSCI US High Yield Choice ESG Screened Index, excluding specified controversial business activities, and it has hugged that index closely.
• 0.35% a year comes in under the typical high yield bond fund, so the values screen doesn't carry a boutique price tag.
• Spread across roughly 600 bonds, with income paid monthly rather than quarterly.
• Among the stronger implementations in a crowded high yield field, and the data behind that read is solid.

• SPHY 0.05% a year against a peer-group median about eight times higher. In high yield, the fee comes straight out of coupon income, so the gap does real work.
• Holds about 1,900 bonds tracking the ICE BofA US High Yield Index, broad enough that no single issuer's trouble dominates the portfolio.ssga.com
• Live since 2012, a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively and has stuck tightly to its stated index rather than drifting from the mandate.
• Distributions arrive monthly, in step with how the underlying coupons come in.

Worth knowing

• HYXF The screen has a price: SCYB, SPHY and HYLB deliver unscreened high yield exposure for a small fraction of 0.35%.
• A smaller fund that trades thinly next to the category heavyweights, which can mean wider spreads at the moment you trade.
• The filter changes who you lend to, not the credit risk you take: these are below-investment-grade borrowers that move with credit stress.

• SPHY This is below-investment-grade credit. Defaults and spread moves drive the price far more than Treasury yields do, and sell-offs in this asset class can be sharp.
• Fees here are already near the floor: SCYB lists 0.03% and HYLB matches at 0.05%, so the cost edge over the strongest peers is narrow.
• Scope is US high yield corporates, full stop. No investment-grade ballast, no emerging market debt, nothing to soften a credit drawdown from inside the fund.ssga.com

Full HYXF profile⁠

Full SPHY profile⁠