SPHY vs XB

SPHYAState Street SPDR Portfolio High Yield Bond ETF

XBBBondBloxx B Rated USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

In short

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.

XB High yield, sliced by credit grade. XB holds only the single-B tier, the fat middle of the junk market, leaving out BB near-investment-grade paper and CCC deep-distress names. One of the original ratings-specific high yield ETFs, trading since 2022.

Stated mandate

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

XB The fund is designed to provide exposure to U.S. dollar-denominated, below-investment-grade corporate debt in the B-rated segment of the high-yield bond market.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• XB Precision instead of a blend: the mandate targets B-rated corporate bonds only, so you dial the credit tier yourself rather than buying the whole junk market at once.prnewswire.com
• Costs 0.30% a year, below the 0.40% typical of high yield bond ETFs, and the fund sits in the stronger half of that crowded peer group.
• Index rules do real work: bonds need at least $300 million outstanding and no single issuer can exceed 2%, spread across roughly 300 positions.bondbloxxetf.com
• Interest lands monthly, and the fund has stuck tightly to its stated index mandate.

Worth knowing

• 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

• XB Thinly traded with a modest asset base, so spreads can be wider than the giant broad high yield funds. Limit orders are the usual answer.
• You pay up for the slice: broad high yield rivals like SCYB (0.03%) and SPHY (0.05%) cost a fraction of this.
• One rating band means no BB ballast and no CCC upside. When single-B credit wobbles, there is nothing else in the portfolio to soften it.

Full SPHY profile⁠

Full XB profile⁠