The Battle of Bond ETFs: How JPST Stacks Up Against BIL

Once the largest actively managed exchange-traded fund in the U.S., the JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income ETF (JPST) lost its crown in 2023 to another exchange-traded fund from JPMorgan: the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI).But two years after losing the top spot on the active AUM leaderboard, JPST remains a highly popular fund, and one that could conceivably reclaim its No. 1 position eventually.This year, investors have put nearly $2 billion into the fund, making it the 10th most popular ETF of the year by inflows.JPST is an ultra-short-term bond ETF that invests in “a diversified portfolio of short-term, investment grade fixed- and floating-rate corporate and structured debt.”The managers of the ETF target a portfolio duration of less than one year, which means that it isn’t a very interest-rate-sensitive fund. In the nearly eight years since it’s been on the market, JPST’s largest peak-to-trough decline was 3.3% in 2020.JPST leverages active management with the aim of safely capturing yields above what investors can get in ETFs and money market funds that exclusively hold Treasury bills.JPST versus BIL It’s a strategy that’s paid off. Since the fund’s inception in 2017, it’s delivered a total return of 23.2% versus a return of 17.6% for the SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL) in the same period. JPST currently has a 30-day SEC yield of 4.54% versus 4.17% for BIL.JPST is slightly more expensive than BIL, with an annual expense ratio of 0.18% versus 0.14%, according to etf.com’s ETF Comparison tool. BIL is currently the largest ETF among ultra-short-term bond ETFs, with assets under management of $37.3 billion. That’s followed by the iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV), which has $33.6 billion in AUM, and then JPST, with $30.1 billion.Among active ETFs, JPST is also the third-largest fund, behind the $39 billion JEPI and the $33.7 billion Dimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF (DFAC).But JPST is outpacing both of those ETFs in terms of inflows this year. Since the start of the year, JEPI has picked up $1 billion in inflows, while DFAC has registered inflows of just under $300 million.