Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IAU vs JNK: Differences, Returns & Fees
IAU is a commodity fund and JNK a bond index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IAU returned +2.7% against +1.7%.
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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $5.9bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
IAU costs 0.15 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.0 point; IAU is 10.2 times larger.
| Measure | IAU | JNK |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +2.7% | +1.7% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Gold | Bloomberg High Yield Very Liquid Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.25% | 0.40% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $60.3bn | $5.9bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
Risk and return
Dec 14, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026 · 984 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: IAU against GLD, Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026; JNK against AGG, Dec 14, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026.
IAU returned more: +377.7% to +141.3%. JNK swung less: 12.7% to 17.2%. JNK fell less at its worst: −38.4% to −44.4%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IAU | JNK | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +377.7% | +141.3% | IAU | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +8.6% | +4.8% | IAU | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +377.7% | −35.6% | IAU | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 17.2% | 12.7% | JNK | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.7% | 9.4% | JNK | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −44.4% | −38.4% | JNK | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 100.4% | 54.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.0% | 35.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 1.16 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 0.24 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.48 | 0.32 | IAU | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.71 | 0.43 | IAU | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.098 | 0.035 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.19 | 0.12 | IAU | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | GLD | AGG | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.1% a year | +2.4% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.67 | 0.94 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.2% to +0.4% | −2.6% to +7.4% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.18 | 0.24 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.7% | 11.1% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 984 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
IAU and JNK on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
IAU and JNK do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. IAU follows Gold and JNK follows Bloomberg High Yield Very Liquid Index.
- Cost. IAU charges 0.25% of assets a year and JNK 0.40%, a gap of 0.15 points.
- Size. IAU has $60.3bn in net assets and JNK $5.9bn (net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026); IAU is 10.2 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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Its expense ratio is 0.25% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.
IAU holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.7% with distributions reinvested, against +2.5% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.6% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
JNK
JNK tracks the Bloomberg High Yield Bond. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.7% with distributions reinvested, against −1.4% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.40% a year.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, IAU or JNK?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and JNK +1.7%.
- Which is cheaper, IAU or JNK?
- IAU is cheaper, by 0.15 percentage points a year. That is about $15 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.
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ETFIQ, IAU against JNK, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-jnk
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). IAU against JNK. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-jnk
[IAU against JNK (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-jnk)
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