Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NUSA) is an index fund. It holds short-term, investment-grade U.S. bonds, mostly Treasury notes, picked using environmental, social and governance (ESG) rules. It charges 0.15% a year. That matches the peer average but is well above the 0.03% charged by Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF (BSV), its closest match. NUSA is also much smaller, with $34.6 million in assets as of July 31, 2026.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, NUSA returned +0.8%, 4th of 8 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +1.6%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-5.9%); its best was 2025 (+6.0%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 9.5% (Aug 3, 2021 to Oct 20, 2022), recovered by Jul 31, 2024.

As of Jul 31, 2026, the fund held 335 securities; the ten largest made up 26.04% of assets.

The bonds mature in 3.5 years on average (weighted by size), with an average coupon of 3.94%.

• Over the three months to Jul 31, 2026, investors added a net $1.2M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +0.08%, +0.06%, -0.11%.

NUSA tracks the Bloomberg MSCI 1-5 Year Aggregate ESG Select Index. The index starts from a modified version of the Bloomberg 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. That pool holds investment-grade (higher-rated) taxable U.S. dollar bonds with one to five years left until they mature. It includes Treasuries, agency debt, corporate bonds, and mortgage- and other asset-backed securities. Bloomberg runs the index with MSCI ESG Research. The fund's sub-adviser cannot change it.

MSCI scores companies on ESG measures against others in the same industry. It scores the U.S. government on six ESG risk factors. Bonds from issuers below a minimum rating are dropped. So are companies with significant activity in alcohol, tobacco, nuclear power, gambling, or weapons and firearms, plus oil and gas producers and metals and mining firms. Mortgage- and asset-backed securities skip the ESG test. Within each sector, bonds are weighted by market value. Sector weights are set to match the base index, so the overall mix stays close to a plain short-term bond index.

The index had 5,131 securities as of October 31, 2025. The fund holds a representative sample instead: 335 holdings as of July 31, 2026. It rebalances monthly, and its portfolio turnover was 38%. Bond prices move opposite to interest rates. An average maturity of 3.5 years keeps that sensitivity modest.

• NUSA charges 0.15% a year, versus an average of 0.15% for the similar funds below (4th 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).

NUSA holds short-term, mostly Treasury bonds with low price swings, so it fits better as a steadying layer than as a source of growth.

NUSA could add a steadier, income-paying layer to a portfolio. It pays monthly, and its trailing 12-month yield was 3.99% as of October 27, 2026. The fund launched in 2017, so it has no record from 2008. Its prospectus shows a 5% gain in 2020. Its weak spot was 2022, when rising rates caused a 6.08% loss, its worst calendar year. Its deepest drop was 9.5%, from August 2021 to October 2022, and it took about 21 months to recover, until July 2024. Anyone who had to sell or draw income during that stretch would have locked in losses. Costs come to $15 in the first year and $192 over 10 years on $10,000 under the SEC's standard example. The fee is higher than BSV's 0.03%. Past results don't predict the future, 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).