SPHY vs XBB

SPHYAState Street SPDR Portfolio High Yield Bond ETF

XBBABondBloxx BB 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.

XBB The top rung of the junk-bond ladder, sold on its own. XBB holds only BB-rated US corporate bonds, the notch just below investment grade, instead of blending them with riskier B and CCC paper.

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.

XBB The fund provides exposure to BB-rated, U.S. dollar-denominated high-yield corporate bonds.

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.

• XBB Charges 0.20% a year, about half the typical high-yield ETF fee, for a slice most broad funds don't sell separately.
• One rating tier, one decision: you set the credit rung yourself instead of inheriting whatever mix a broad high-yield index holds.bondbloxxetf.com
• The index caps any single issuer at 2%, so no one borrower dominates the couple hundred bonds inside.bondbloxxetf.com
• Pays monthly, from a BondBloxx high-yield lineup that has been splitting the market by credit rating since 2022.prnewswire.com

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

• XBB Broad high-yield rivals SCYB, SPHY and USHY charge under a tenth of a percent; the ratings slice costs more.
• BB is the best-rated junk, not investment grade. Default risk and price swings still ride along with the coupon.
• A mid-sized, moderately traded fund rather than a category giant, so trading costs can matter more than with the broad high-yield heavyweights.

Full SPHY profile⁠

Full XBB profile⁠