The Vanguard USD High Yield Corporate Bond UCITS ETF tracks the Bloomberg US High Yield $250MM 2 per cent Issuer Capped Index, providing diversified access to US dollar-denominated corporate bonds rated below investment grade.

“The USD high yield market is the largest segment of the global high yield corporate bond market and an important building block in a comprehensive fixed income offering,” Claire Aley, head of Product and PRD Europe, said. “We are launching the Vanguard USD High Yield Corporate Bond UCITS ETF now to give investors low-cost, diversified access to an important source of income at a time when many are looking to enhance portfolio income, manage duration risk and broaden diversification.”

The launch builds on Vanguard’s expansion of its UCITS ETF range, following nine equity ETF launches in 2026. Alongside several fee reductions over the past 24 months, which have delivered estimated investor savings of more than $80 million, it reflects Vanguard’s aim to broaden its low-cost offering and lowering the cost of investing. Together, these developments are expanding Vanguard’s range of low-cost UCITS ETFs across global, regional and market-cap exposures, while making ETF investing more accessible through lower fees.

A number of firms have been continuing their expansion into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) such as Schroders, Pictet Asset Management, Invesco, Franklin Templeton. See more here and here.

T Rowe Price
has launched the Jupiter Global Monthly Income Bond Fund in a wide spread of markets including the UK, Europe, US offshore and Latin America.

The new fund will be run by Hilary Blandy, who has managed a similar UK strategy, Jupiter Monthly Income Bond (MIB) since September 2020.

GMIB, invests in global corporate credit, mixing safer, higher quality investment grade bonds with riskier, high-yield credit. It keeps duration, or sensitivity to interest rates, moderate. The aim is to deliver an attractive and consistent income stream without big swings in value when markets are volatile.

Unlike some flexible bond funds, GMIB is measured against a specific custom benchmark, which mixes shorter-dated investment grade and high-yield bonds issued by companies in developed markets, the firm said in a statement. The benchmark serves as a long-term guide for how much credit risk the fund takes and its sensitivity to movements in interest rates.

However, the fund does not follow a benchmark approach for asset allocation. Instead, the fund manager, working with Jupiter’s wider credit research team, builds a portfolio of 100 to 150 carefully chosen issuers. The blended average credit rating of the fund will typically sit in investment grade territory, and foreign currency exposure is normally hedged back to the base currency, minimising the potential impact of currency swings on returns.

GMIB, a UCITS sub-fund of the Jupiter Global Fund SICAV is registered in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, and Switzerland.