As the Federal Reserve continues to normalize its monetary policy and hike interest rates, fixed-income ETF investors will need to take a harder look at their portfolios.
“That’s a real concern for advisors that have a core fixed-income position, particularly those benchmarked to the ‘Agg,'” Martin Kremenstein, Head of Retirement Products and ETFs at Nuveen, said at the Charles Schwab IMPACT 2018 conference, referring to the widely observed Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index or so-called Agg for short.
“The Agg is obviously one of the bellwether, investment-grade indexes out there. However, it has really changed – you know – over the last 10, 15 years. Less credit exposure; much more government exposure; much more duration than then – duration is six years now. That’s a lot of exposure to rates and a rising rates environment,” he added.
Alternatively, fixed-income investors can look to smart beta ETF strategies for a smarter way to access the bond market. Specifically, investors may consider something like the NuShares Enhanced Yield U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEArca: NUAG).