iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

USHY

Market cap $25.5B

The iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF offers diversified exposure to US high-yield corporate bonds with a low 0.08% fee. USHY's portfolio is broadly diversified across sectors and issuers, with most weighting in BB and B rated bonds, minimizing idiosyncratic risk. Current macro indicators, such as the ISM manufacturing PMI and high-yield risk premium, suggest a neutral environment for USHY, with moderate contraction and stabilizing trends.

iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF offers broad exposure to US high-yield bonds with a low 0.08% expense ratio and 6.72% yield. USHY is diversified across nearly 2,000 holdings, focuses on BB/B-rated bonds, and benefits from low duration risk and strong liquidity. Favorable Fed rate cut outlook and robust market fundamentals support high-yield corporates, positioning USHY for continued outperformance versus peers.

CLOs have been one of the best-performing income asset classes of these past few years, as has CLOZ. Due to the fund's strong investment thesis and popularity, I thought to compare it with USHY, a simple high-yield bond ETF. CLOZ has a higher yield, stronger past returns, and lower risk and volatility.

High-yield corporate bond ETFs provide investors with strong yields, albeit somewhat elevated credit risk. There are lots of high-yield bond ETFs available to investors. Some with higher yields, some with better performance track-records, some focusing on more niche areas of the market. A quick overview of five of these follows. ETFs include simple, cheap vanilla ETFs, smart beta ETFs, and those targeting niche, best-performing bonds.

JPMorgan, already the largest manager of actively managed fixed income ETFs, expanded its capabilities with a splash today. The JPMorgan Active High Yield ETF (JPHY) began trading today with the aid of a large external institutional client and $2 billion.

More neutral on inflation risks given recent moderate CPI amid encouraging jobs data. USHY remains sensitive to overall YTM changes with 3-year duration, but the reduced evidence of stagflation reduces the inflation and credit spread pressure. Tariff risks persist, with reciprocal tariffs still not out of the picture, but we do point to moderating data such as low export exposure of the US economy.

VOO, IBIT, IXUS, IQLT and USHY emerge as the most loved ETFs of last week.

The ongoing trade war has led to a massive increase in uncertainty and bearish sentiment. Credit spreads have widened as a result, going from their lowest levels in history, to solidly above-average. Investing in high-yield corporate bond funds seems like an easy way to profit from these changes.

During the first week of March, fixed income ETFs gathered more money than equity products. While not rare, this is a sign of uncertainty in the markets.

My initial pessimism on USHY was too severe; deeper analysis shows a less wicked outlook for 2025 despite low spread levels. USHY holds exposure to BB and B-rated bonds, which in 2025 experienced a default rate below the historical average. Rising net leverage in IG bonds may increase fallen angels, suggesting the market is pricing in this risk rather than mispricing HY risk.