NFRA vs NUIF

NFRAANorthern Trust STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure ETF

NUIFBNuveen US Infrastructure ETF

In short

NFRA Most global infrastructure funds stop at utilities and toll roads. NFRA's index goes wider, adding cell towers, data centers, hospitals, prisons and postal routes to the pipelines and railroads, across developed and emerging markets.

NUIF Infrastructure without an index: Nuveen's team hand-picks roughly 40 US owners and operators of the vital stuff (grids, pipelines, water), chasing growth plus income at 0.55% a year.

Stated mandate

NFRA The fund seeks to match, before fees and expenses, the performance of the STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure Index.

NUIF Seeks long-term growth of capital and income. Under normal conditions, it invests at least 80% in equity securities of infrastructure-related companies economically tied to the U.S., with limited non-U.S. exposure.

Why people hold it

• NFRA Five supersectors in one wrapper: communications, energy, utilities, transportation and government outsourcing (hospitals, postal, correctional), across roughly 220 holdings.flexshares.com
• Charges 0.47% net (0.48% gross), net of a waiver through March 1, 2027, below the infrastructure category median.
• The index does real work: half of revenue must come from infrastructure, names must clear a $1 million daily-volume screen, and sector caps limit crowding. Rebalanced quarterly.flexshares.com
• Listed in 2013 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that pays quarterly, it sits among the stronger builds in its peer group.

• NUIF At least 80% sits in US-tied infrastructure equities: companies that own or operate vital structures, facilities and services. Toll-booth assets, not a construction-cycle bet.nuveen.com
• No declared index to copy. Nuveen's investment team builds the book itself, leaning toward infrastructure names it considers overlooked and attractively valued.nuveen.com
• 0.55% a year for active management undercuts the typical fund in the infrastructure group, where plenty of rules-based rivals charge more.
• Income is written into the mandate, not bolted on: the stated goal is long-term growth of capital and income from businesses with typically stable cash flows.nuveen.com

Worth knowing

• NFRA Cheaper options sit on the same shelf: IFRA at 0.30%, IGF at 0.37%, GII at 0.40%. Each tracks a different index with a different definition of infrastructure.
• Broad cuts both ways: telecoms, railroads and postal operators share the portfolio with utilities, so this is not a pure regulated-utility sleeve.flexshares.comflexshares.com 2
• Volume is moderate rather than heavy for the category, which can mean wider spreads on larger orders.

• NUIF Launched in 2026 and still small, it trades thinly, so spreads can be wide and limit orders matter more than with the group's giants.
• Non-diversified and concentrated in about 40 names, so a single stumble lands harder than it would in a broad infrastructure index fund.usnews.com
• The active fee is real: index alternatives in the same cohort, IFRA at 0.30% and PAVE at 0.47%, cost less for infrastructure exposure.

Full NFRA profile⁠

Full NUIF profile⁠