SPDR SSgA Ultra Short Term Bond ETF

SPDR SSgA Ultra Short Term Bond ETF (ULST) is an actively managed State Street fund. It holds short-term, mostly investment-grade corporate bonds, Treasury notes and cash-like instruments, and it aims for income while keeping price swings small. Its 0.20% expense ratio is above the 0.17% average for similar ultra-short funds. With $533 million in net assets as of June 30, 2026, it is the smallest fund in its peer group.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, ULST returned +3.1%, 6th of 8 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +3.8%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2021 (+0.3%); its best was 2023 (+5.7%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 1.3% (Sep 3, 2021 to Jun 30, 2022), recovered by Nov 25, 2022.

As of Jun 30, 2026, the fund held 314 securities; the ten largest made up 30.06% of assets, and 22.9% sat in cash and money-market holdings.

The bonds mature in 1.3 years on average (weighted by size), with an average coupon of 4.33%.

• Over the three months to Jun 30, 2026, investors withdrew a net $95.0M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +0.32%, +0.29%, +0.24%.

ULST does not track an index. Its adviser, SSGA Funds Management, picks the bonds. Under normal conditions, at least 80% of net assets go into US dollar investment-grade debt. That means bonds rated BBB- or higher by S&P or Fitch, or Baa3 or higher by Moody's. The fund can buy corporate bonds, commercial paper (short-term company IOUs), Treasury notes and bills, mortgage- and asset-backed securities, and bank certificates of deposit. Up to 10% may go into high-yield, or "junk," bonds.

The main rule is to keep interest-rate risk low. Effective duration measures how much a bond's price reacts when rates change. The fund expects to keep it at one year or less and to keep its weighted average maturity at two and a half years or less. As of June 30, 2026, it held 320 positions with an average maturity of 1.3 years. Company debt made up 56%, Treasuries 19% and cash 22.9%. The largest position was a Treasury note at 12.2%, followed by Athene Global Funding and Toronto-Dominion Bank.

There is no fixed rebalancing schedule. The manager trades based on credit quality and duration, and the prospectus filed October 27, 2026 shows portfolio turnover of 52%. The fund may use futures, swaps and options on Treasury futures to adjust its exposure. On June 30, 2026, it held one two-year Treasury note futures contract. It is not a money market fund, so its share price floats rather than staying at $1.

• ULST charges 0.2% a year, versus an average of 0.17% for the similar funds below (5th of 8, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $20 in the first year and $255 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

Its very short maturities have kept price drops near 1%, which makes it a place to hold cash-like reserves rather than a source of growth.

ULST is built to hold steady rather than to grow. The price history starts in June 2020. Over that period, the fund's deepest drop was 1.3%, from September 3, 2021 to June 30, 2022, and it had recovered by November 25, 2022. It returned 0.84% in calendar 2022. Its worst quarter was a 2.63% loss in early 2020, during the COVID crash. Its weakest calendar year was 2021, at 0.23%. The fund launched in 2013, so it has no record from 2008. So far, someone forced to sell shares in a bad year would have taken only small losses.

The fund paid 4.15% over the 12 months to October 27, 2026, in monthly distributions. That income shrinks when short-term rates fall. Growth has been modest: 2.62% a year over the 10 years to December 31, 2025. In the SEC's standard example, $10,000 would cost $255 over 10 years. 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).