HYBL attempts to solve the income problem by combining senior loans, high-yield corporate bonds, and debt tranches from U.S. collateralized loan obligations (CLOs). The result is a portfolio with lower duration and lower volatility compared to traditional high-yield funds, while still targeting high current income with monthly distributions.
"Oil prices are higher again this morning, but Treasury yields are lower as the risks to economic growth begin to take precedence over the risks to inflation," Oxford Economics said in a note on Monday.
The fund blends high yield corporate bonds, senior loans, and debt tranches of U.S. collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) into a single actively managed portfolio, aiming to deliver income that beats the broad bond market while keeping volatility lower than any single segment on its own.
The U.S. Treasury bond market has finally responded to the Mideast war, giving its assessment of the energy shock's severity and the war's effect on U.S. fiscal imbalance and inflation.
MORT holds shares in mortgage real estate investment trusts, companies that borrow at short-term rates and invest in mortgage-backed securities or originate real estate loans. The income MORT distributes comes from the dividends paid by the underlying mREITs to their shareholders.
JPMorgan Income ETF has delivered over 50 consecutive monthly distributions since its October 2021 inception, providing stability that is the entire point of the investment strategy.
USHY seeks to track the investment results of the ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index, composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds, providing broad exposure in a low-cost wrapper.
In my view, interest rates are more likely than not going to head lower over the course of 2026 and into 2027. I'm not saying we're due for a pandemic-like selloff, but I do think that weakness in the labor market is likely more protracted than the government data suggest. As such, I do think the makeup of the Federal Reserve, and which way many of its presidents and voting members lean (toward providing support for the labor market over battling inflation) could lead to much faster rate cuts than many think.
MFA's dividend is not covered by current earnings. The company reported $0.20 per share in distributable earnings for Q3 2025 while paying out $0.36 per share in dividends. That's a payout ratio of 180%. Over the trailing twelve months, earnings totaled $1.12 per share against dividends of $1.44, yielding a payout ratio of 128.6%. Full-year 2024 showed improvement, with operating cash flow of $200.1 million covering the $176.7 million dividend obligation at 1.13x.
EMLC holds government bonds issued by emerging market countries in their own currencies, such as Brazilian reals, Indonesian rupiah, and Mexican pesos. Each month, EMLC passes interest income to shareholders as a distribution. Recent monthly payments have ranged from $0.1149 to $0.1390 per share, and the fund has made 161 consecutive monthly payments since its July 2010 inception with no gaps or suspensions.
The ProShares Russell 2000 Dividend Growers ETF tracks the Russell 2000 Dividend Growth Index, which screens for small-cap companies that have raised their dividends every year for at least the past 10 consecutive years. That single requirement does most of the quality filtering. A company that has grown its dividend for a decade has almost certainly demonstrated stable cash flows, disciplined management, and enough earnings durability to survive at least one or two economic downturns.
Many investors regard bonds as the frumpier cousins to stocks. Their prices rarely pop or plummet. They usually deliver a lower return, and-aside from a glamorous cameo in the 1980s thriller Die Hard-they are not part of popular culture in the same way as, say, GameStop or Tesla shares. They are, though, a critical part of any well-managed portfolio, and with the stock market looking particularly frothy, this may be more true than ever.
Step away from those individual stocks. Forget I bonds and laddered portfolios of individual Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. If you're a satisficer, they're not for you. Reduce your number of accounts and the holdings within them.A portfolio with fewer moving parts is easier to oversee and simpler to document in case your loved ones or a financial advisor needs to take the wheel.
JAAA invests exclusively in AAA-rated tranches of collateralized loan obligations. CLOs are structured securities backed by pools of leveraged loans to corporations. The AAA-rated senior tranches sit at the top of the payment waterfall, receiving interest payments first and enjoying the strongest credit protection. These loans carry floating interest rates tied to benchmark rates, meaning the fund's income rises and falls with prevailing rates. As borrowers pay interest, that income flows through to JAAA shareholders as monthly distributions.
