The Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF (NYSEArca: BSV), one of this year’s most prolific asset gatherers among bond ETFs because of its low duration, has yields not much more than 1%.
The iShares TIPS Bond ETF (NYSEArca: TIP) has a 30-day SEC yield of just 1.45%. Sure, the 3.45% 30-day SEC yield found on the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEArca: LQD) sounds good by comparison, but risk-tolerant investors can find even higher yields in the bond ETF arena.
That is assuming they are willing to take on some added risk, but with U.S. interest rates expected to rise if the Federal Reserve tapers, the real risk might just be holding Treasury ETFs with exposure to the wrong end of the yield curve.
What follows is a list of bond ETFs that have 30-day SEC yields north of 5%. Durations are included as well as comments illustrating what investors can expect with these ETFs. Only pure bond funds are included. That means no ETFs with “bond-like” traits such as REIT, MLP, preferred stock or business development funds.
Please note these are not all of the bond ETFs currently yielding 5% or more, but the list does represent a variety of high-yielding bond themes starting with the…