The Bond Market’s Quiet Discontents

To characterize these funds merely as ‘low-cost’ is to engage in a dangerous simplification. They are, rather, economies of scale applied to the acquisition of obligation. BND, with its expansive reach across the entirety of the investment-grade U.S. bond market – 11,444 positions, a veritable archipelago of debt – offers a semblance of diversification. VGIT, by contrast, constricts itself to the narrower channel of intermediate-term Treasuries, a self-imposed austerity that, while perhaps appealing to those seeking the illusion of maximum safety, ultimately sacrifices breadth for a fleeting sense of control.







