The iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEArca: HYG) and the SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (NYSEArca: JNK), the two largest U.S. high-yield bond ETFs by assets, are up 0.2% and 0.1% year-to-date, respectively. Despite heavy outflows
The PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio (NYSEArca: BKLN), a floating-rate, high-yield, speculative-grade debt, senior loan ETF, which tracks the Standard & Poor’s/LSTA U.S. Leveraged Loan 100 Index, has gained 0.6% in January, marking the first time since October 2012 that floating rate debt has risen even though the S&P 500 index fell. [Investors Flock to Floating Rate ETFs on Interest Rate Concerns]
Additionally, Pacific Investment Management Co. and Loomis Sayles & Co. are taking a closer look into emerging market bonds. Dan Ivascyn, a co-manager at PIMCO, sees potential opportunities in shifting from junk-rated corporate debt to “some of the higher-quality assets within the emerging markets.”
The iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF (NYSEArca: EMB), which tracks U.S. dollar-denominated emerging market debt, holds about 58% of it weight in investment-grade debt. EMB is down 0.3% year-to-date.
For more information on speculative grade debt, visit our junk bonds category.
For full disclosure, Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of HYG and JNK.