Weather the Storm in Stocks With These Bond ETFs

Battered stock market investors seeking a safe haven in bonds should consider moving assets into the iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG), said Matt Tucker, head of fixed income strategy at iShares. 'This is the kind of market where you are seeing a lot of red, where equities are dropping and you want to have that core fixed income position,' said Tucker. 'The AGG is the largest fixed income ETF in the world and its actually up this year in the face of a lot of red.' The $31 billion AGG is up 1% so far in 2016. The investment grade bond ETF, which is benchmarked against the Barclay’s U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, holds mortgage-backed securities, Treasuries, and corporate bonds. The AGG does not hold high yield, or junk, bonds so investors seeking to pick up additional yield with less security might want to opt for the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG). The HYG has dropped 5% so far in 2016 after falling 5% last year.