SJNK vs USHY

SJNKAState Street SPDR Bloomberg Short Term High Yield Bond ETF

USHYAiShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate 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.

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

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.

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

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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 SJNK profile⁠

Full USHY profile⁠