SPDR Portfolio Corporate Bond ETF

SPDR Portfolio Corporate Bond ETF (SPBO) is a State Street index fund. It tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Corporate Bond Index, a broad basket of investment-grade bonds from companies such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Verizon. Its 0.03% expense ratio was the lowest among the eight similar funds compared. It pays income monthly. Its holdings averaged 11.4 years to maturity as of June 30, 2026, which makes its price sensitive to interest rates.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, SPBO returned -1.7%, 6th of 8 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was 0.0% and its 10-year +2.4%.
• In the 2020 COVID crash it fell 20% and regained its old high 2.9 months after the low.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-15.7%); its best was 2019 (+14.7%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 22.3% (Sep 22, 2021 to Oct 20, 2022), recovered by Oct 24, 2025.

As of Jun 30, 2026, the fund held 4,049 securities; the ten largest made up 1.78% of assets, and 3.01% sat in cash and money-market holdings.

The bonds mature in 11.4 years on average (weighted by size), with an average coupon of 4.94%.

• Over the three months to Jun 30, 2026, investors added a net $110.8M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +0.49%, +0.78%, +0.20%.

SPBO follows the Bloomberg U.S. Corporate Bond Index, which is run by Bloomberg Index Services Limited. The index holds fixed-rate, taxable, US dollar bonds from US and non-US industrial, utility and financial companies. Every bond must be investment grade, meaning rated Baa3/BBB- or higher. These are the top tiers of credit ratings, where default risk is judged relatively low. The index uses the middle rating from Moody's, Fitch and S&P, or the lower one if only two agencies rate a bond. Each bond needs at least $300 million outstanding and at least one year left until it matures. The index is rebalanced on the last business day of each month. It held 8,779 securities as of July 31, 2026.

SSGA Funds Management uses sampling. It buys a subset of the index that should behave much like the whole. As of June 30, 2026, the fund had 4,049 holdings, and the top 10 made up only 1.78% of assets. At least 80% of assets must be in index bonds. The fund may also hold cash, bonds outside the index and credit default swaps (contracts that pay out if a borrower defaults). It reported no derivatives as of June 30, 2026.

Bond prices move opposite to interest rates. With an average maturity of 11.4 years, rising rates can push SPBO's price down noticeably.

• SPBO charges 0.03% a year, versus an average of 0.07% for the similar funds below (1st of 8, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $3 in the first year and $39 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

SPBO holds thousands of investment-grade corporate bonds, pays monthly and charges just 0.03% a year, but its price can still swing with interest rates.

SPBO shows that high-quality corporate bonds can still fall hard. It dropped 20% in March 2020 but recovered by June 15, 2020. Rising rates did more damage: it lost 15.86% in 2022, its worst calendar year. Its deepest drop, 22.3% from September 2021 to October 2022, took about 36 months to recover. The fund launched in 2011, so it has no 2008 record. Anyone who sold shares in 2022 to pay bills would have locked in losses. On the income side, the trailing 12-month yield was 5.15% as of October 27, 2026, paid monthly. The 0.03% expense ratio compares with a 0.07% average among similar funds. Past results don't predict future ones, and a retirement plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

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