Additionally, short-duration junk bond options also experienced modest inflows, which suggests that some investors may be hedging against potential rate risks ahead. For instance, the SPDR Barclays Short Term High Yield Bond ETF (NYSEArca: SJNK), which has a 2.28 year duration, attracted $96.5 million in assets for the week ended March 11 while the iShares 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEArca: SHYG), which has a 2.26 year duration, added $4.9 million in assets. In contrast, HYG has a 4.03 year duration and JNK has a 4.22 year duration – duration is a measure of a bond fund’s sensitivity to changes interest rates, so a lower duration corresponds with a smaller sensitivity. [Short-Duration Bond ETFs to Mitigate Potential Volatility]
iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF
For more information on the speculative-grade debt market, visit our junk bonds category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.