JHHY vs SPHY

JHHYBJohn Hancock High Yield ETF

SPHYAState Street SPDR Portfolio High Yield Bond ETF

In short

JHHY A hired gun for junk bonds: John Hancock handed the portfolio to credit specialist Marathon Asset Management, which picks the bonds instead of copying an index. Fee is 0.52%, net of a waiver through July 31, 2027.

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

JHHY The SEC filing describes high-yield securities as below-investment-grade or comparable unrated debt instruments and notes that they generally offer higher yields than higher-rated securities, with greater risk.

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

• JHHY Actively managed since its 2024 launch and subadvised by Marathon Asset Management, a credit shop that picks issues rather than tracking a high-yield benchmark.johnhancock.com
• Income comes first by design, capital appreciation second, and the cash lands monthly rather than quarterly.bloomberg.com
• Risk is spread across roughly 600 bonds, and the holdings line up with the below-investment-grade mandate the filings describe.
• The waiver does real work here: 0.52% net against a 0.75% gross ratio, in place through July 31, 2027.

• 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

• JHHY That 0.52% still sits above the category median, and index rivals undercut it hard: SCYB at 0.03%, SPHY and HYLB at 0.05%, USHY at 0.08%.
• Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so wider spreads are a real possibility. Limit orders and calm market hours matter more with a fund this size.
• High yield means below-investment-grade credit, which the filing itself frames as higher yield paired with greater risk, and the fund's record only starts in 2024.

• 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 JHHY profile⁠

Full SPHY profile⁠