NUHY vs USHY

NUHYBNuveen ESG High Yield Corporate Bond

USHYAiShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

In short

NUHY High yield with a conscience filter. NUHY tracks a Bloomberg MSCI index that screens junk-bond issuers on ESG data and leans toward the market's more tradable corners, at a fee below what the typical high-yield ETF charges.

USHY The wide-angle lens on junk bonds: about 1,900 US dollar high yield corporate issues for 0.08% a year, a fifth of what the typical fund in its category charges. Broad, cheap, heavily traded, and it pays monthly.

Stated mandate

NUHY The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the investment results of the Bloomberg MSCI U.S. High Yield Very Liquid ESG Select Index.

USHY The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds.

Why people hold it

• NUHY Costs 0.30% a year, under the 0.40% median for high-yield bond ETFs.
• The ESG screen is written into the mandate, not bolted on: the fund's stated job is tracking the Bloomberg MSCI U.S. High Yield Very Liquid ESG Select Index.
• Stays close to that benchmark in practice, one of the tighter implementations among high-yield ETFs.
• Spreads the credit risk across roughly 400 bonds and pays income monthly.

• USHY Charges 0.08% a year while the median high yield fund in its cohort runs 0.40%. Cheap rent on an expensive-to-run corner of the bond market.
• Holds about 1,900 bonds against the ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index: the broad market, not a curated slice of the most liquid names.ishares.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund and one of the more actively traded in high yield, which tends to keep bid-ask spreads thin even on busy days.
• Pays monthly and has tracked its index tightly since its 2017 launch, one of the closer index matches in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• NUHY The shares themselves trade thinly next to the category's giants, which can mean wider spreads on the way in and out.
• Nuveen's own NHYB is built on the same declared index for 0.08%, a meaningfully cheaper route to the same exposure.
• This is below-investment-grade credit. Default risk is real, and these bonds can slide alongside stocks when markets turn.

• USHY High yield means below-investment-grade borrowers. When credit gets stressed this asset class drops with stocks instead of cushioning them.
• Cheaper tickets sit on the same shelf: SCYB at 0.03% and SPHY at 0.05%.
• This is a fund, not a bond ladder. No maturity date hands your principal back; the basket rolls on indefinitely.

Full NUHY profile⁠

Full USHY profile⁠