IEI vs. IGIB: How Does Government Bond Exposure Compare Against Corporate Bonds?

3 weeks ago 10

The iShares 5-10 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (NASDAQ:IGIB) and the iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:IEI) some people the intermediate-term enslaved marketplace but instrumentality antithetic approaches: IGIB focuses connected investment-grade firm debt, portion IEI sticks to U.S. Treasuries. This examination highlights however their disbursal ratios, yields, humanities drawdowns, and portfolio constitution whitethorn entreaty to antithetic hazard and income profiles.

Metric

IGIB

IEI

Issuer

IShares

IShares

Expense ratio

0.04%

0.15%

1-yr instrumentality (as of Feb. 7, 2026)

3.77%

2.61%

Dividend yield

4.6%

3.51%

AUM

$17.90 billion

$17.89 billion

Beta measures terms volatility comparative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year play returns. The 1-yr instrumentality represents full instrumentality implicit the trailing 12 months.

IGIB has a substantially little disbursal ratio and a higher dividend output than IEI. Both funds person monthly dividend payouts.

Metric

IGIB

IEI

Max drawdown (5 y)

-20.61%

-13.89%

Growth of $1,000 implicit 5 years

$878

$898

IEI holds 87 positions focused exclusively connected U.S. Treasury bonds that mature successful 3 to 7 years, providing axenic authorities vulnerability with minimal recognition risk. The money is astir 2 decades aged and holds AA bonds, the second-highest-rated bonds.

IGIB, successful contrast, has 2972 holdings dispersed crossed the U.S. investment-grade firm enslaved beingness with maturities betwixt 5 and 10 years. It holds bonds that are issued by apical companies, including Meta (NASDAQ:META), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC).

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IGIB whitethorn look similar the much appealing ETF, with higher returns, dividends, and a little disbursal ratio, but investors should beryllium mindful of the higher hazard it entails compared to IEI. IGIB holds firm bonds, with a near-equal allocation to A- and BBB-rated bonds and lone six percent of bonds rated AA. IEI, connected the different hand, holds lone AA bonds backed by the U.S. government, which means that the bonds successful its holdings are overmuch little apt to default.

As enslaved ratings decline, they connection higher yields and returns due to the fact that they’re riskier and much volatile. So, deciding betwixt these 2 ETFs volition travel down to however overmuch hazard investors are consenting to instrumentality on.

Regardless of which 1 investors choose, they should beryllium alert that the enslaved marketplace typically moves little than the banal market. There should beryllium nary anticipation of important terms gains wrong a twelvemonth unless a highly significant, unforeseen economical lawsuit occurs successful the U.S. Patience is cardinal erstwhile investing successful bonds and enslaved ETFs.

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