JNK vs SCYB

JNKAState Street SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF

SCYBASchwab High Yield Bond ETF

In short

JNK A 2007-vintage junk-bond heavyweight that tracks the "Very Liquid" corner of US high yield: roughly 1,200 of the market's more tradable corporate bonds, with income paid monthly.

SCYB Three basis points for the broad US high-yield corporate market. Schwab undercuts a category where the typical fund charges more than ten times as much, spreading the bet across roughly 1,800 bonds and paying monthly.

Stated mandate

JNK The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of an index representing the U.S. high-yield corporate bond market, before fees and expenses.

SCYB The fund follows a rules-based strategy intended to track the high-yield bond market, primarily through bonds in the Bloomberg Barclays US Corporate High Yield Total Return Index and similar derivatives.

Why people hold it

• JNK The benchmark is Bloomberg's High Yield Very Liquid Index, a liquidity-screened slice of US junk debt rather than every bond outstanding.ssga.com
• Running since 2007 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, it is one of the actively traded names in the high-yield ETF aisle.
• Does exactly what the label says: broad exposure to about 1,200 US high-yield corporate bonds, tracking its stated index closely, with monthly distributions.
• Sits in the top quartile of a 93-fund high-yield cohort on our review, one of the stronger implementations among its peers.

• SCYB 0.03% a year against a category median of 0.40%. Even the cheap rivals sit above it: SPHY at 0.05%, USHY at 0.08%.
• Tracks the same Bloomberg US Corporate High Yield index as BKHY, which charges 0.22%. Same map, cheaper toll.
• Roughly 1,800 bonds, so no single issuer's blowup drives the outcome. Rules-based and passive, and it has hugged its index closely.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively and pays monthly, which matters in a corner of the market where getting out cheaply is half the job.

Worth knowing

• JNK The 0.40% fee matches the category median but towers over cheap broad rivals: stablemate SPHY at 0.05% and Schwab's SCYB at 0.03%.
• This is below-investment-grade credit. Prices move with default worries and risk appetite, not just interest rates.
• The liquidity screen tilts the portfolio toward larger, easier-to-trade issues, so it is a filtered version of the high-yield market rather than all of it.ssga.com

• SCYB High yield means below-investment-grade credit. These bonds behave more like stocks than Treasuries when the economy sours, and the extra income is the payment for that risk.
• Launched in 2023, so it has a shorter record than rivals that have traded through more credit cycles.
• The strategy can hold derivatives alongside the bonds themselves to track the index, one layer beyond plain bond ownership.

Full JNK profile⁠

Full SCYB profile⁠