Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
JNK vs USHY: Differences, Returns & Fees
JNK's duration was 3.4 years on Jun 30, 2026 and USHY's 3.0 on Jul 31, 2026; USHY charges 0.08% to JNK's 0.40%.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $5.9bn for State Street SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF and $26.3bn for iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF.
Pair scorecard
USHY costs 0.32 points a year less; both returned +1.7% over a year; USHY is 4.5 times larger.
| Measure | JNK | USHY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +1.7% | +1.7% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Bloomberg High Yield Very Liquid Index | ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.40% | 0.08% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $5.9bn | $26.3bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 62% | |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Jul 31, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Nov 3, 2017 to Oct 23, 2026 · 468 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: JNK against AGG, Dec 14, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026; USHY against SPHY, Nov 3, 2017 to Oct 23, 2026.
USHY returned more: +47.3% to +40.5%. JNK and USHY swung about the same: 9.9% and 9.7%. JNK and USHY fell about the same at their worst: −21.4% and −21.9%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | JNK | USHY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +40.5% | +47.3% | USHY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +3.8% | +4.4% | USHY | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −16.6% | −14.9% | USHY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 9.9% | 9.7% | Tie | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 6.9% | 6.8% | Tie | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −21.4% | −21.9% | Tie | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 54.4% | 104.0% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 35.8% | 103.7% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.16 | 1.07 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.24 | 0.95 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.16 | 0.21 | USHY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.23 | 0.30 | USHY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.035 | 0.019 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.18 | 0.20 | USHY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | AGG | SPHY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +2.4% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.94 | −0.10 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −2.6% to +7.4% | −1.5% to +1.4% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.24 | 0.03 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 11.1% | 2.3% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 468 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, JNK and USHY hold 62% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Jul 31, 2026.
half
62% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
JNK and USHY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
JNK and USHY are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. JNK follows Bloomberg High Yield Very Liquid Index and USHY follows ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index.
- Cost. JNK charges 0.40% of assets a year and USHY 0.08%, a gap of 0.32 points.
- Size. JNK has $5.9bn in net assets and USHY $26.3bn (net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026); USHY is 4.5 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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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.
USHY
USHY tracks an index of Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +1.7% with distributions reinvested, against +1.8% for its benchmark, the ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index, measured by the closely related ICE BofA US High Yield Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.08% a year.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, JNK or USHY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, JNK returned +1.7% and USHY +1.7%.
- Which is cheaper, JNK or USHY?
- USHY is cheaper, by 0.32 percentage points a year. That is about $32 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, JNK against USHY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/jnk-vs-ushy
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