PSH vs SCYB

PSHCPGIM Short Duration High Yield ETF

SCYBASchwab High Yield Bond ETF

In short

PSH Junk bonds with the interest-rate dial turned down. PSH is PGIM's active run at short-maturity high yield, measured against a 1-3 year high yield benchmark, and it pays 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

PSH The Fund seeks total return through current income and capital appreciation. It primarily invests in diversified below-investment-grade fixed-income instruments and normally commits at least 80% of investable assets to those instruments or economically similar investments.

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

• PSH Short end by design: the yardstick is the Bloomberg 1-3 Year High Yield Corporate 1% Capped Index, so rate swings push it around less than a full-maturity junk bond fund.pgim.com
• Actively run rather than index-cloned, with at least 80% of investable assets in below-investment-grade debt or economically similar instruments.pgim.com
• Income lands monthly, and the stated mandate is total return (current income plus capital appreciation), not yield alone.

• 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

• PSH 0.45% a year sits above the high yield category median and well above index rivals like SCYB (0.03%) and SPHY (0.05%). That's the toll for an active desk.
• Short maturities trim rate sensitivity, not credit risk. The borrowers here are rated below investment grade, and defaults come with that territory.
• Trades thinly beside the category's giants and runs a modest asset base, so spreads can be wider than at the household-name high yield funds.

• 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 PSH profile⁠

Full SCYB profile⁠