IIGD vs USIG

IIGDAInvesco Investment Grade Defensive ETF

USIGAiShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

In short

IIGD Most investment-grade corporate funds just buy the whole market. IIGD screens it first: higher-quality issuers, shorter maturities, roughly 160 bonds, 0.13% a year. A defensive tilt inside the calmer corner of credit.

USIG Most investment-grade corporate bond funds hand you one slice of the maturity curve. USIG takes the whole thing, thousands of US dollar corporate bonds from short-dated to long, for four basis points a year.

Stated mandate

IIGD The Fund seeks exposure to U.S. investment-grade bonds with relatively higher credit quality and shorter maturities, using representative sampling of its underlying index.

USIG The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds.

Why people hold it

• IIGD Defensive by design. The index targets U.S. investment-grade bonds with relatively higher credit quality and shorter maturities, so you hold a screened slice rather than the whole corporate market.invesco.com
• 0.13% a year undercuts the typical investment-grade corporate ETF, which is unusual for a rules-based screen rather than a plain market-cap index.
• Roughly 160 bonds, sampled to follow the index closely, with cash paid out monthly. On measured tracking and portfolio build it sits in the upper half of its investment-grade corporate peer group.

• USIG Costs 0.04% a year, against a category median near 0.19%. CORP, which tracks the same ICE BofA US Corporate Index, charges 0.41%.
• One ticker, the full USD investment-grade corporate curve: thousands of bonds, short to long. Slice funds like IGSB (1-5 year) and IGIB (5-10 year) each cover one segment.ishares.com
• Running since 2007, it has tracked its index with very little drift and is one of the more actively traded funds in its category.
• Interest lands monthly, and this is a multi-billion-dollar fund that ranks among the strongest implementations in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• IIGD The screen cuts both ways: shorter maturities and higher-rated issuers mean less interest-rate and credit risk than a broad corporate index, and less of the extra yield that comes with them.
• Small and thinly traded next to the category giants. Spreads can be wider than headline funds, so limit orders matter, and modest assets are worth watching in any niche fund.
• Cheap for what it does, but not the floor: the big broad corporate index funds (VCIT, USIG, SPIB, IGIB) charge a few basis points for whole-market exposure.

• USIG Owning the whole curve means long-dated bonds ride along, so the price swings more when rates move than a short-maturity slice such as IGSB.
• This is corporate credit, not Treasuries. Investment grade at purchase, but prices can fall when spreads widen or an issuer is downgraded.ishares.com
• VCIT edges it on fee at 0.03%, though that fund stays in intermediate maturities rather than the full curve.

Full IIGD profile⁠

Full USIG profile⁠