State Street My2027 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (MYHA)
The State Street My2027 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (MYHA) holds corporate bonds rated below investment-grade — the ones the market calls “junk” or “high-yield” bonds. These are IOUs from companies with shakier credit ratings or more uncertain futures. Because they are riskier, they pay higher interest. MYHA bundles a bunch of them together and sets them to mature around 2027. You buy shares, collect the income, and own a diversified chunk of that riskier corporate-debt market.
What you own
High-yield bonds come from companies that either don’t have long track records, operate in shaky industries, or carry a lot of debt already. A retailer in trouble. A startup scaling fast but not yet profitable. A manufacturing firm hit by tariffs. A leveraged buyout loaded with debt to make the deal work. The ratings agencies mark these bonds as BB or below — below the dividing line that separates “creditworthy” from “speculative.” In plain English: there is a real chance these companies might not pay you back in full.
Because of that risk, high-yield bonds pay a lot more interest than government bonds or investment-grade corporates. If you are shopping for income and you accept higher risk, high-yield is where you find it. MYHA holds dozens or hundreds of these bonds, all expected to mature somewhere near 2027, spreading the risk across many issuers instead of betting on one.
Why people buy it
Investors buy MYHA for yield — the income stream. In a world where safe Treasury bonds pay a low rate, high-yield bonds pay substantially more. That extra return is compensation for the extra risk of default. Some investors need the income; others think the odds of default on most of these bonds are low enough that the extra yield is worth it. MYHA lets you get that yield without having to pick individual bonds or know which companies are actually going to survive.
The maturity window
The bonds in MYHA are set to mature around 2027. That is coming up fast from today’s vantage point (2026). As 2027 approaches, the fund will hold shorter and shorter bonds. This matters because shorter bonds have less time for a company to go bust. A bond maturing in a few months is lower-risk than one maturing in five years, even if the issuer is the same. As MYHA ages toward its 2027 target, the credit risk actually declines naturally.
Income and how it trades
MYHA distributes its bond coupons (interest payments) to shareholders, usually monthly. That income is the real pull of the fund. The fund trades on NASDAQ during market hours, so you can buy or sell whenever you want. The price will fluctuate based on interest rates, economic news, and market sentiment toward credit risk. Unexpected good economic news can lift the price of high-yield bonds; a recession scare can crater it.
Credit risk is real
The hard truth: some of these companies will default. Maybe one or two out of the 100 or 200 holdings will fail to pay in full. MYHA is diversified, so one failure does not sink the fund, but you will take a loss on that position. In a serious recession, defaults jump sharply — from maybe 1 percent in good times to 5, 10, or even higher in a downturn. If MYHA held all the bonds that defaulted in 2008 or 2020, it would have taken meaningful losses. That is the trade: higher income in good times, real losses when the economy turns.
Interest-rate risk
High-yield bonds also react to interest-rate moves, though less dramatically than long-dated bonds. If rates rise, the bonds MYHA holds become less attractive and their prices fall. If rates fall, their prices rise. With a 2027 maturity target, you are looking at roughly one year of remaining duration in 2026, which means rate moves will have a muted effect compared to longer-duration funds.
Who MYHA fits
MYHA suits investors willing to accept real credit risk in exchange for higher income, and who expect economic conditions to remain stable or improve. If you need safe, predictable returns, this is not it. If you understand that some holdings might default and you own MYHA as part of a diversified portfolio, and you can stomach a 10, 15, or 20 percent decline in a recession, then the extra yield might make sense. Start with State Street’s fund prospectus and factsheet to understand the exact holdings and index methodology.