Goldman Sachs Access High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

Goldman Sachs Access High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (GHYB) tracks the FTSE Goldman Sachs High Yield Corporate Bond Index, offering monthly income from US dollar “junk” bonds, those rated below investment grade. Its twist: issuers ranking in the bottom 15% on one-year improvement in debt load and debt-paying ability get half their usual weight. At 0.15% a year, it costs more than four similar high-yield ETFs that charge 0.05% to 0.08%.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, GHYB returned +1.2%, 7th of 8 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +3.6%.
• In the 2020 COVID crash it fell 21.5% and regained its old high 4.1 months after the low.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-11.1%); its best was 2019 (+14.5%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 21.5% (Feb 20, 2020 to Mar 23, 2020), recovered by Jul 27, 2020.

As of Aug 31, 2026, the fund held 940 securities; the ten largest made up 3.76% of assets.

The bonds mature in 5 years on average (weighted by size), with an average coupon of 6.46%.

• Over the three months to Aug 31, 2026, investors added a net $13.4M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +0.29%, -0.27%, +0.99%.

GHYB aims to match, before fees, the FTSE Goldman Sachs High Yield Corporate Bond Index, a custom index calculated by FTSE Fixed Income. It starts with the FTSE US High-Yield Market Index: below-investment-grade bonds from US and Canadian companies, with at least a year to maturity. Only bonds with at least $250 million outstanding, from issuers with two or more eligible bonds, qualify.

Next, issuers are split into financials, industrials and utilities and ranked within each group on two equally weighted measures: one-year improvement in debt service (keeping up with interest and principal payments) and in leverage (how much debt they carry). Issuers in the bottom 15% stay in but have their market-value weight cut in half. A maturity bucketing step keeps the index's interest-rate sensitivity close to the starting index's. As of November 30, 2025, the index held 1,419 bonds with a weighted average maturity of 4.73 years.

The index rebalances monthly for changes in ratings, liquidity or maturity, and quarterly to refresh the rankings. The fund keeps at least 80% of assets in index bonds but uses representative sampling, holding a subset that mirrors the index's overall profile (about 940 holdings as of August 31, 2026). As an index fund, it generally won't sell a struggling issuer's bonds unless the index drops them.

• GHYB charges 0.15% a year, versus an average of 0.29% for the similar funds below (5th of 8, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $15 in the first year and $192 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

GHYB's main draw is monthly interest income from about 940 junk bonds, at a low 0.15% fee, but its price can fall sharply when credit markets are under stress.

GHYB could add monthly income. Its trailing 12-month yield was 6.8% as of October 27, 2026. The fee is 0.15% a year. Under the SEC's standard example on $10,000, that works out to $15 in the first year and $192 over 10 years. But junk bonds tend to fall when the economy weakens. The fund launched in 2017, so it has no record from 2008. In the 2020 COVID crash it fell 21.5% in about a month, then recovered within about four months. In 2022 it fell 15.8% and needed nearly 15 months, until December 2023, to get back to its earlier high. Its worst calendar year was 2022, when it returned -11.3%.

Anyone forced to sell shares during those stretches would have locked in losses. Past results don't predict future returns, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by bond funds with the closest average maturity and issuer mix (N-PORT).