MBBB vs USIG

MBBBCVanEck Moody’s Analytics BBB Corporate Bond ETF

USIGAiShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

In short

MBBB BBB is the crowded bottom rung of investment grade. MBBB doesn't just buy the whole rung: it tracks a Moody's Analytics index that screens for BBB bonds that look attractively valued with comparatively lower downgrade risk.

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

MBBB The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the MVIS Moody’s Analytics US BBB Corporate Bond Index, which selects attractively valued BBB-rated corporate bonds with comparatively lower downgrade risk.

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

Why people hold it

• MBBB A credit screen, not a size-weighted index. The MVIS Moody's Analytics US BBB index selects on valuation and downgrade risk, which is the risk that actually matters at the edge of investment grade.vaneck.com
• It does the job it advertises: the portfolio has hugged its stated index closely, which is the whole assignment for a rules-based bond fund.
• Roughly 170 corporate bonds, spread across a single credit tier, with distributions paid on a monthly cadence.

• 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

• MBBB The screen costs 0.25% a year. Plain-vanilla corporate bond giants like VCIT, USIG and SPIB run at a few basis points, so the model has to earn that gap.
• Small and thinly traded since its 2020 launch, so spreads can run wider than in the household-name corporate bond funds.
• By design it holds a filtered slice of BBB debt, not the whole market, so results can drift from a standard investment-grade corporate benchmark in either direction.

• 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 MBBB profile⁠

Full USIG profile⁠