PSH vs USHY

PSHCPGIM Short Duration High Yield ETF

USHYAiShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate 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.

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

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.

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

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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 PSH profile⁠

Full USHY profile⁠