VanEck Emerging Markets High Yield Bond ETF

HYEM

Market cap $466M

Today's market environment is pushing investors to look beyond traditional fixed income for higher yield. VanEck's income-focused ETFs provide access across asset classes.

At the same time developed markets have been generating policy and macro noise, emerging markets have been quietly outperforming. The inextricable relationship between the direction of U.S. monetary policy and emerging market risk assets remains powerful, but this time the rally is not just about the Fed.

Echoing the strong run in foreign equities in 2025, bond markets ex-US are also having a good year. Using a set of ETFs to track the major international buckets of fixed-income securities shows across-the-board outperformance over a popular US benchmark through Wednesday's close (Dec. 17).

HYEM offers a 7% yield based on dollar-denominated sub investment grade bonds from emerging markets. HYEM is diversified in countries and sectors, with a focus on Latin America and financials. The fund's value and distributions have steadily declined, resulting in significant inflation-adjusted losses over the past decade.

HYEM has a 0.40% expense ratio, 405 bonds, strong exposure to China, and BBB-CCC rated debt with a duration under 5 years. The spread between emerging market high-yield and investment-grade bond yields has narrowed to concerning lows. The threat of tariffs could lead to rising yields, which would push prices down.

Below-investment-grade bonds issued by companies in emerging markets are outperforming by a wide margin in 2024, based on a set of ETFs. HYEM's rally is also adding to leading the rally in US-based junk bonds.

Risk-tolerant investors searching for income and the potential for added upside with bonds have long turned to high-yield corporate debt and related ETFs. However, that focus has largely been limited to domestic offerings.

High-yield and high dividend investments through ETFs are preferred for preserving value. The increasing recession risks in the U.S. could favor a DCA strategy on emerging market high-yield bonds, unlike in the past. Fed rate cuts and dollar weakness could increase the demand for emerging market high yield bonds, and some data is already supporting this thesis.

Emerging market high-yield bonds offer the highest fixed-income yields in the market right now. HYEM is an index bond ETF focusing on these securities. Its dividend yield is a bit low at 6.0%, but it has a higher SEC yield and YTM. The fund is a solid investment choice, and has outperformed since my last coverage.

2024 has been a tough year for most bond funds, as delayed rate hikes led to lower bond prices. Some bond ETFs have managed to outperform in spite of these tough conditions. These tend to focus on investments with low, sometimes negative, duration.