IQHI vs USHY

IQHICNYLI MacKay High Income ETF

USHYAiShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

In short

IQHI Born as an ESG high yield fund, IQHI dropped the screen in 2025 and now chases one thing: current income. MacKay Shields' credit team roams junk bonds, loans and convertibles, and the fund pays monthly.

USHY The wide-angle lens on junk bonds: about 1,900 US dollar high yield corporate issues for 0.08% a year, a fifth of what the typical fund in its category charges. Broad, cheap, heavily traded, and it pays monthly.

Stated mandate

IQHI The Fund seeks to maximize current income.

USHY The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds.

Why people hold it

• IQHI Actively run by MacKay Shields, with a mandate reaching past plain bonds into loans, convertibles, CLOs and asset-backed paper, plus derivatives to hedge or manage duration.sec.gov
• The ESG overlay came off in February 2025, when the fund was renamed from NYLI MacKay ESG High Income ETF. The mandate now reads simply: maximize current income.sec.gov
• Pays monthly, and spreads credit risk across roughly 400 positions rather than a concentrated handful.

• USHY Charges 0.08% a year while the median high yield fund in its cohort runs 0.40%. Cheap rent on an expensive-to-run corner of the bond market.
• Holds about 1,900 bonds against the ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index: the broad market, not a curated slice of the most liquid names.ishares.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund and one of the more actively traded in high yield, which tends to keep bid-ask spreads thin even on busy days.
• Pays monthly and has tracked its index tightly since its 2017 launch, one of the closer index matches in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• IQHI Costs 0.41% net of a fee waiver (0.58% gross), near the category median, but index rivals run far leaner: SCYB at 0.03%, SPHY at 0.05%, USHY at 0.08%.
• Thinly traded next to the category's heavyweights, so spreads can run wider and large orders may move the price.
• Below-investment-grade debt without limitation means real default and credit risk, and loans and CLOs add layers most index high yield funds skip.sec.gov

• USHY High yield means below-investment-grade borrowers. When credit gets stressed this asset class drops with stocks instead of cushioning them.
• Cheaper tickets sit on the same shelf: SCYB at 0.03% and SPHY at 0.05%.
• This is a fund, not a bond ladder. No maturity date hands your principal back; the basket rolls on indefinitely.

Full IQHI profile⁠

Full USHY profile⁠