LQDH vs SPBO

LQDHCiShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF

SPBOAState Street SPDR Portfolio Corporate Bond ETF

In short

LQDH Corporate credit with the rate risk engineered out: LQDH tracks an index that pairs investment grade corporate bonds with interest rate swaps to mitigate duration. Fee is 0.24% net of a waiver through February 28, 2027.

SPBO The whole investment-grade corporate bond market in one ticker for three basis points. Most rivals sell you a maturity slice; SPBO owns the lot, and it undercuts other funds tracking the very same Bloomberg index.

Stated mandate

LQDH The fund seeks to track an index designed to reduce the interest-rate risk of a corporate-bond portfolio.

SPBO The fund seeks investment results that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Corporate Bond Index.

Why people hold it

• LQDH The hedge is the whole idea. It tracks an index designed to mitigate the interest rate risk of a dollar-denominated investment grade corporate portfolio, leaving credit spread as the main exposure.ishares.comsec.gov
• The swap overlay lives inside the fund, so the rate hedge is handled in the wrapper rather than by you running swaps or futures on the side.ishares.com
• Running since 2014, so this structure has worked through more than one rate cycle instead of arriving in time for the last one.
• Pays monthly, and at 0.24% net (waived down from 0.44% gross through February 28, 2027) the fee sits near the category median for investment grade corporate bond funds.

• SPBO 0.03% a year against a category median of 0.19%. In bond land, where the yield does the heavy lifting, that fee gap is not a rounding error.
• Thousands of corporate bonds across the full maturity range, so you hold the broad IG corporate market instead of one duration bucket.ssga.com
• Same index, very different tolls: KORP charges 0.29%, JLQD 0.35%, JHCB 0.53%. SPBO sits at the cheap end of that list.
• Running since 2011, pays monthly, and tracks its benchmark about as closely as anything in the investment-grade corporate group.

Worth knowing

• LQDH The hedge targets interest rates, not credit. Corporate spreads widening still shows up in the price.ishares.com
• It cuts both ways: with duration hedged toward zero, you also give up the price move a long bond portfolio gets when yields fall.ishares.com
• Thinly traded next to the unhedged heavyweights of the corporate bond aisle, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads.

• SPBO Full maturity range means long-dated paper is in the mix, so the price moves more when rates move than short-maturity peers like IGSB or SPIB.
• Corporate credit only. No Treasuries or mortgages to lean on, so the fund rides the health of corporate borrowers as well as the rate cycle.ssga.com
• Investment grade by design, US issuers only. No high-yield or emerging-market bonds in the basket.

Full LQDH profile⁠

Full SPBO profile⁠