Investors can still find attractive yields in the bond market today — and they don’t have to take a lot of risk to get them, according to Fidelity’s Celso Muñoz. Muñoz is the co-lead manager for the Fidelity Total Bond ETF (FBND), whose team Morningstar calls ” best-in-class .” The ETF, rated four stars and gold by Morningstar, currently has a 30-day SEC yield of 4.52% and an expense ratio of 0.36%. Muñoz isn’t stretching to get that income. These days, he is leaning into Treasurys. FBND 1Y mountain Fidelity Total Bond ETF one-year performance Treasury yields jumped earlier in the week amid President Donald Trump ‘s threats over Greenland and fears of a trade war . Yields then moved lower on Wednesday and were little changed on Thursday. Bond yields move inversely to prices. “Yields are now near the highs of the last 20 years,” Muñoz said in an interview with CNBC. Meanwhile, spreads on investment-grade corporate bonds are tight and are in the richest percentile relative to the last 20 years, he added. Credit spreads represent the risk premium, or additional yield, that investors receive for taking on risk. When spreads tighten, investors get less compensation for that risk. “Given that big disconnect, that big difference that exists today between Treasury yield and their history and spreads and their history, today I think Treasurys really offer some of the best risk reward in the fixed income market,” Muñoz said. Some 39% of the Total Bond ETF portfolio is in U.S. government bonds, as of December 31. That is a higher allocation than Muñoz has historically had. The exposure is concentrated largely in the belly of the curve, between five and seven years. Taking some risks That’s not to say Muñoz isn’t taking some risks. Even with the tight spreads, about 29% of the portfolio is in corporate bonds, although security selection is key, he said. Bonds from JPMorgan Chase , Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are among the top corporate holdings in the ETF. Muñoz prefers investment-grade corporates with short- to intermediate duration, which he said offer a nice income profile and are not as sensitive to interest rate moves and spreads. When it comes to credit quality, he likes the lower end of investment grade bonds, rated BBB. “There tends to be a greater amount of spread dispersion,” Muñoz said. “There’s a little bit more controversy in the market. Some of those names are a little bit harder to understand, and I think that’s the area where research can really add a lot of value.” There is also opportunity within high-yield bonds and leveraged loans, Muñoz noted. While spreads are still fairly rich, the economy is in good shape, Muñoz said. Defaults have been fairly low in high yield, he said. “When you’ve got defaults that are low [and] a benign economic backdrop, the income profile from high-yield bonds actually becomes fairly attractive.” One area where he is not especially bullish is bonds tied to artificial intelligence. Corporate bonds and securitized products have been coming into the market as companies look for funding to build out their technology, Muñoz noted. “A lot of the issuance that’s been incoming has been at fairly rich levels … and so the upside is just not as great,” he said. “There’s far less reason for excitement on the fixed income side, when it comes to AI then there might be on the equity side.”
