High yield corporate bond ETFs have backed off of their recent trading highs, and in the cases of the two largest funds in the space, HYG (iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond, Expense Ratio 0.50%) and JNK (SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond, Expense Ratio 0.40%), look to be setting up for a fourth straight losing session as there has been some clear selling pressure across the fixed income markets in general in the past week or so (pushing rates higher).
Asset flows in the space have been a mixed bag, as HYG has seen more than $1.5 billion vacate the fund year to date (its total asset base is approximately $13.8 billion) while JNK has attracted about $300 million year to date in new assets.
Notably climbing up the ladder in the High Yield Corporate Bond space as far as smaller funds gaining momentum and significant new assets include both HYS (PIMCO 0-5 Year U.S. High Yield Corporate Bond, Expense Ratio 0.55%) and the actively managed HYLD (Peritus High Yield, Expense Ratio 1.25%) which has managed to post the best YTD numbers in terms of performance thus far in this group.
Year to date, HYLD has pulled in $>300 million in new assets, bringing its fund asset base to about $783 million while HYS has seen more than $920 million enter the fund just year to date, helping to make this a $4.5 billion ETF.