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What do the bonds yield, how hard do rates hit the price, and who owes you the money? Step through the questions that separate a bond fund's payout from its risk.
Ranked by net assets among 294 funds with an overview reading.
| Rank | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Click a column name to sort by that column. | ||||||
| 01 | ZAG.TOBMO Aggregate Bond Index ETF | 3.8% | 6.8 | 0.0% | 94.4% | $13.4B |
| 02 | XBB.TOiShares Core Canadian Universe Bond Index ETF | 3.8% | 6.8 | 0.0% | 98.9% | $10.3B |
| 03 | VAB.TOVanguard Canadian Aggregate Bond Index ETF | 3.6% | 7.1 | 0.0% | 100.0% | $7.6B |
| 04 | PMIF.TOPIMCO Monthly Income Fund (Canada) | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported | 100.0% | $4.9B |
| 05 | ZCS.TOBMO Short Corporate Bond Index ETF | 3.8% | 2.7 | 0.0% | 99.1% | $4.7B |
| 06 | FCCB.NEFIDELITY SYSTEMATIC CANADIAN BOND INDEX ETF | 4.2% | 7.3 | 0.0% | 100.0% | $4.6B |
| 07 | XSB.TOiShares Core Canadian Short Term Bond Index ETF | 3.2% | 2.8 | 0.0% | 97.6% | $4.5B |
| 08 | TDB.TOTD Canadian Aggregate Bond Index ETF | 3.5% | 6.8 | 0.0% | 85.7% | $4.2B |
| 09 | ZIC.TOBMO Mid-Term US IG Corporate Bond Index ETF | 5.2% | 6.0 | 0.8% | 98.1% | $3.6B |
| 10 | ZMU.TOBMO Mid-Term US IG Corporate Bond Hedged to CAD Index ETF | 5.2% | 6.0 | 0.8% | 99.3% | $3.6B |
Click a column name to sort by that column.
BMO Aggregate Bond Index ETF
iShares Core Canadian Universe Bond Index ETF
Vanguard Canadian Aggregate Bond Index ETF
PIMCO Monthly Income Fund (Canada)
BMO Short Corporate Bond Index ETF
FIDELITY SYSTEMATIC CANADIAN BOND INDEX ETF
iShares Core Canadian Short Term Bond Index ETF
TD Canadian Aggregate Bond Index ETF
BMO Mid-Term US IG Corporate Bond Index ETF
BMO Mid-Term US IG Corporate Bond Hedged to CAD Index ETF
Yield to maturity estimates the annual return built into the bonds a fund holds at today’s prices. It includes their interest payments and the difference between today’s bond price and the amount repaid at maturity.
Target-maturity funds make this easier to see. Each fund holds bonds due around the same year, so plotting yield to maturity by target year creates a fund-level yield curve.
The chart compares Canadian and U.S. investment-grade target-maturity funds with the same target years. It shows how yields change as repayment moves further into the future and how yields differ between the two bond markets. The table ranks all bond funds with a current published yield to maturity, and the lens separates fund types and target-maturity markets.
Duration measures how sensitive a bond fund’s price is to interest-rate changes. A duration of six years means the fund’s price would be expected to fall by about 6% if rates rose by one percentage point, or rise by about 6% if rates fell by the same amount. Coupon income and other market changes also affect the actual return.
To make the comparison meaningful, the chart uses only Canada-focused, Canadian-dollar government bond funds. It shows the average yield to maturity within each duration range. The table covers the broader bond universe and ranks funds by duration. Use the fund-family lens to narrow the comparison.
A bond fund can lend to governments, companies, or both. The borrower matters because the extra yield offered by corporate and lower-rated bonds compensates investors for taking more credit risk.
Credit ratings provide a starting point for judging that risk. Investment-grade bonds are rated BBB or higher. Below-investment-grade bonds carry more risk of missed payments or losses. Not rated means the fund does not report a rating for that portion of the portfolio; it does not automatically mean the bonds are low quality.
The chart compares government, aggregate and investment-grade corporate funds within the same duration range. It includes only Canada-focused, Canadian-dollar funds so differences in currency and interest-rate markets do not distort the comparison. The distance between the points shows how much additional yield each category currently offers.
The table shows the published rating and borrower mix for individual funds, exactly as each fund reports it. Published rating shares do not always add to the whole portfolio, so the columns can leave a remainder that no rating column describes. Funds that report a negative rating share, or a set of shares that does not describe a whole portfolio, are left out of these columns instead of being rescaled. The table is ranked by below-investment-grade share, with the funds carrying the most at the top.
For a non-registered account, interest and foreign income are ordinary income. Capital gains and return of capital have different treatment. The latest T3 is a description of the distribution reported for that tax year, not a forecast of the next one.
Canada-focused and foreign-focused bond funds can both be mostly ordinary income. Foreign-focused funds can also report foreign tax paid. That amount is shown separately because withholding is not an additional slice of the payout.
Where capital gains come from: a fund generally realizes them when it sells a bond for more than its tax cost. A bond's price can rise when market yields fall or its issuer's credit spread narrows.
Rebalancing and other portfolio changes can turn those price movements into realized gains. The capital-gains slice on a T3 therefore records gains realized during that tax year. It is not coupon income and is not necessarily a repeatable source of cash.
The table uses funds with complete ordinary-income data for the comparison.
Set the importance of three measures and the table reorders live. Yield to maturity contributes more when higher; duration and below-investment-grade share contribute more when lower.
The shortlist compares funds carrying all three measures. It is a live comparison of the published readings, not a prediction of future returns or credit outcomes.
See 254 funds in the Bonds & Credit tabSee 47 in the Target Maturity tab
Descriptive analysis of distribution data, not investment advice. Real yield is a calculation, not a prediction. Past performance does not indicate future results.