SJNK vs SPHY

SJNKAState Street SPDR Bloomberg Short Term High Yield Bond ETF

SPHYAState Street SPDR Portfolio High Yield Bond ETF

In short

SJNK Junk bonds with the long end lopped off. SJNK tracks an index of US high yield corporate bonds maturing within five years, keeping the credit risk while shedding much of the rate risk. Trading since 2012, paying monthly.

SPHY State Street's junk-bond workhorse: roughly 1,900 US high yield bonds in one wrapper for 0.05% a year, a fraction of what the typical high yield ETF charges, with income paid monthly.

Stated mandate

SJNK The fund seeks to track the performance of the Bloomberg US High Yield 350mn Cash Pay 0-5 Yr 2% Capped Index, which measures the performance of short-term, U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds.

SPHY The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the ICE BofA US High Yield Index.

Why people hold it

• SJNK The mandate is mechanical: dollar high yield corporates with 0-5 years left, $350m minimum issue size, cash-paying coupons, and a 2% cap on any one issuer.ssga.com
• Tracks its benchmark closely and is one of the more actively traded funds in the high yield group, which matters in a corner of the market where bonds trade by appointment.
• Roughly 1,200 bonds under the hood, with cash paid out monthly rather than quarterly.
• Running since 2012 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, it is an established name in short-maturity high yield rather than a recent launch chasing the theme.

• SPHY 0.05% a year against a peer-group median about eight times higher. In high yield, the fee comes straight out of coupon income, so the gap does real work.
• Holds about 1,900 bonds tracking the ICE BofA US High Yield Index, broad enough that no single issuer's trouble dominates the portfolio.ssga.com
• Live since 2012, a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively and has stuck tightly to its stated index rather than drifting from the mandate.
• Distributions arrive monthly, in step with how the underlying coupons come in.

Worth knowing

• SJNK At 0.40% it sits right at the category median, while broad-maturity peers like SCYB (0.03%) and SPHY (0.05%) charge a fraction. The short-maturity tilt is what the extra buys.
• Shorter maturities dial down interest-rate sensitivity, not credit risk. These are below-investment-grade borrowers, and downgrades or defaults show up in the price.
• The index holds only cash-paying bonds, so zero-coupon and deferred-interest issues sit outside the fund's universe.

• SPHY This is below-investment-grade credit. Defaults and spread moves drive the price far more than Treasury yields do, and sell-offs in this asset class can be sharp.
• Fees here are already near the floor: SCYB lists 0.03% and HYLB matches at 0.05%, so the cost edge over the strongest peers is narrow.
• Scope is US high yield corporates, full stop. No investment-grade ballast, no emerging market debt, nothing to soften a credit drawdown from inside the fund.ssga.com

Full SJNK profile⁠

Full SPHY profile⁠