SPTI vs UTEN

SPTIAState Street SPDR Portfolio Intermediate Term Treasury ETF

UTENBUS Treasury 10 Year Note ETF

In short

SPTI Middle-of-the-curve Treasuries and nothing else: notes maturing in 3 to 10 years, wrapped at 0.03% a year. Running since 2007, it is one of the cheapest ways to own that slice of the government bond market.

UTEN Most Treasury funds hand you a basket spanning 3 to 10 years. UTEN tracks an index built on one bond, the current 10-year note, refreshed as new ones come to auction, with income paid out monthly.

Stated mandate

SPTI The fund seeks to deliver returns generally matching the Bloomberg 3-10 Year U.S. Treasury Index before fees and expenses, investing in U.S. Treasury securities with remaining maturities of 3 to 10 years.

UTEN The fund seeks, before fees and expenses, to generally match the price and yield performance of the ICE BofA Current 10-Year US Treasury Index (GA10). It normally invests at least 80% of net assets in securities comprising that index.

Why people hold it

• SPTI 0.03% a year sits in the cheapest tier of intermediate Treasury funds, well under the category norm and level with Schwab's SCHR at the floor.
• No credit guesswork. Roughly a hundred US Treasury notes, held to mirror the Bloomberg 3-10 Year U.S. Treasury Index.ssga.com
• Index tracking has been among the tightest in its peer group, and income lands monthly.
• Launched in 2007 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so getting in and out is rarely the hard part.

• UTEN One bond, one point on the curve. The index holds the current 10-year Treasury note, so your rate exposure stays pinned there instead of drifting around a 3-to-10-year blend.
• Treasury notes pay a coupon twice a year. This wrapper passes income through monthly, which suits anyone running a cash-flow calendar.
• 0.15% a year sits right at the median for intermediate Treasury funds, and the fund has stayed very close to its one-bond benchmark.

Worth knowing

• SPTI Intermediate maturities carry real rate sensitivity: a 3-to-10-year book swings more when yields move than a short-bill fund does.
• Treasuries only. No corporates, mortgages or inflation-linked bonds, which makes it a building block rather than a full bond allocation.
• The monthly payout floats with whatever the Treasury curve is paying, so it moves with rates rather than sitting at a set level.

• UTEN Precision has a price. SPTI and SCHR charge 0.03% for broad 3-to-10-year Treasury exposure, roughly a fifth of what this one costs.
• Full 10-year duration, undiluted. Sitting at the long end of this group means bigger price moves when yields shift than shorter-dated Treasury funds see.
• It trades lighter than the household-name Treasury ETFs, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the volume leaders'.

Full SPTI profile⁠

Full UTEN profile⁠