A strong management team and sound investment process underpin iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF's Morningstar Medalist Rating of Bronze. The portfolio maintains a sizable cost advantage over competitors, priced within the second-lowest fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy’s management team earns an Above Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's sensible investment philosophy earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained an underweight position in debt with 15- to 20-year maturities and securitized debt compared with category peers. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm an Above Average Parent Pillar rating. People Pillar and Parent Pillar ratings for this strategy are indirectly assigned by a Morningstar analyst rather than algorithmically derived. Please see the notes following each pillar section for more details. The details of assigning methods can be found in each pillar section.

Analyst Rating

iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating. Morningstar's evaluation of this security's process aims to determine the likelihood that it will outperform its Morningstar Category benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. The main contributor to the rating is that this fund tracks an index. Historical data, like Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, finds that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. Respectable risk-adjusted performance also bolsters the rating. This can be seen in the fund's five-year alpha calculated relative to the category index, which suggests that the process was successful over that period. Lastly, the process is limited by its relatively concentrated portfolio, with its top 10 holdings accounting for 97% of assets. Concentration can lead to outperformance, but it amplifies the risk of a blowup.

The investment strategy as stated in the fund's prospectus is: 

The investment seeks to track the investment results of the ICE® U.S. Treasury 7-10 Year Bond Index.  The underlying index measures the performance of public obligations of the U.S. Treasury that have a remaining maturity of greater than or equal to seven years and less than ten years. The fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the underlying index and and the fund will invest at least 90% of its assets in U.S. Treasury securities that the advisor believes will help the fund track the underlying index.  

 This strategy has a modest 2.9% 12-month yield, lower than its average peers' 5.8%. It also has a 4.7% 30-day SEC yield (a measure similar to yield-to-maturity). While a lower yield may deliver less income, it also tends to indicate lower credit risk. But that isn't always the case. Over the past 12 months, the average yield of the fund has been lower than the average yield of its Morningstar Category peers. The portfolio's average surveyed credit quality is on par with peers, with both the fund and the average being rated AA. In terms of interest-rate risk, compared with others in the Long Government category, this fund maintains a significantly lower average effective duration of 7.4 years compared to the category's 16.5 years. The shorter a strategy's duration, the less sensitive it is to shifts in interest rates. This fund, with a 7.4-year duration, is expected to gain 7.4% of its net asset value if interest rates drop by 1 percentage point, and vice versa.

Above Average

Process

iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF's strong fixed income team drives the strategy's Above Average People Pillar rating. There are two managers listed on the fund: Karen Uyehara, James Mauro. The team is well equipped, with an average of 13 years of portfolio management experience. Together, they manage a total of 118 strategies, with solid long-term prospects. The strategies average a Silver asset-weighted Morningstar Medalist Rating, indicating a position to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median in aggregate.  

 Note: This People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. Morningstar analysts evaluate the People Pillar for passive products at the brand level and may also differentiate by asset class. There is at least one other passive strategy at the firm that is covered by a Morningstar analyst, so the People Pillar rating of the fund is inherited from the rating that the Morningstar analyst assigned to investment vehicles under the same brand name.

People

BlackRock offers compelling options across asset classes and vehicles. It earns an Above Average rating for Parent. 
The firm’s approximately USD 8 trillion in assets under management, as of Sept. 30, 2022, gives it unparalleled scale and influence. It is a market-leading index fund provider globally, and its iShares exchange-traded fund franchise offers a low-cost lineup of core funds that investors can use to build a well-diversified portfolio for dirt cheap. The firm can be more adventurous in its ETF launches than some peers, so not everything it launches is appropriate for the masses. As a result, it is likely to have more ETF closures than peers that stick to the basic building blocks.  
The firm’s active fixed-income and multi-asset efforts also stand out as some of the best in the industry. Those benefit from BlackRock’s commitment to building a first-class risk management system via its Aladdin analytics software. The software is also available for sale to other firms and has proved to be a popular option for competitors, a testament to its usefulness. 
More recently, the firm has shifted its focus to ESG offerings and incorporating ESG across its investment lineup, leading to a political backlash in the United States.
BlackRock isn’t the best at everything it tries to do, but retail investors, financial advisors, and large institutions could all build robust portfolios using BlackRock’s products.

Parent

iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF

IEF tracks a market-value-weighted index of debt issued by the US Treasury with 7-10 years to maturity remaining. Treasury STRIPS are excluded.

Bank of America

SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF

iShares Russell 2000 ETF

JPMorgan Chase & Co

SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF

Invesco QQQ

Charles Schwab

SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

Pavel Muravev/iStock via Getty Images Listen on the go! Subscribe to Wall Street Breakfast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify This is an abridged conversation from Seeking Alpha's Investing Experts podcast.

Fed Pause, Mid-Cycle Slowdown And Banks' Liquidity Crisis With James Foord And Lawrence Fuller

iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF

The yield on the 10-year note ended May 19, 2023 at 3.70%, the 2-year note ended at 4.28%, and the 30-year at 3.95%. Here is a table showing the yields' highs and lows and the FFR since 2007.

Treasury Yields Snapshot: May 19, 2023

The yields on the 10-year note ended May 5, 2023 at 3.44%, the 2-year note ended at 3.92%, and the 30-year at 3.76%. Here is a table showing the yields' highs and lows and the FFR since 2007.

Treasury Yields Snapshot: May 5, 2023

iShares California Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF

iShares National Muni Bond ETF

iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF

SPDR Portfolio Intermediate Term Treasury ETF

U.S. Weekly FundFlows Insight Report: Money Market Funds Witness Their Third Largest Weekly Net Redemption On Record For The Fund-Flows Week.

U.S. Weekly FundFlows Insight Report: Money Market Funds Witness Their Third Largest Weekly Net Redemption On Record For The Fund-Flows Week

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond ETF

Schwab Intermediate-Term US Treasury ETF

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF

Rates Are Close Peaking; I Am Cautious On Equities.

Rates Are Close Peaking; I Am Cautious On Equities

Yields on the 10-year Treasury bonds have climbed in recent weeks, approaching a technical zone marked by significant resistance and support levels that may dictate the future trends in U.S. bond rates.

U.S. 10-Year Treasury Yields Test A Key Technical Area: Resistance And Support Levels To Watch Next - iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:IEF)

iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF

After back-to-back years of impressive net inflows into U.S.-listed ETFs, many thought that a $1 trillion industry cash haul was possible. However, only $80 billion of net new money flowed in during the first quarter of 2023.

When Markets Turned Volatile, Investors Turned to ETFs

Brace For A Potential Recession Through QQQ And IEF

ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas

SPDR Gold Trust

SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust

iShares Gold Trust Micro

ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil

United States Natural Gas Fund LP

United States Oil Fund LP

Teucrium Wheat Fund

Engagement on VettaFi's ETF platforms can serve as a great indicator of advisor and end investor sentiment, as our ETF lists are sought after for research purposes. In March 2023, there were some compelling trends worthy of further investigation.

Advisors Shifting Sentiment on Commodities

SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF

iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF

The global ETF assets could top $11 trillion by 2027. Fixed-income ETFs are expected to remain the top contributor, growing substantially faster than any other asset class.

Investors Falling in Love With ETFs More Deeply

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares MSCI USA ESG Optimized ETF

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF

iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares MBS ETF

Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF

Trading activity on the Tradeweb European ETF marketplace reached EUR 59.2 billion in March, while the proportion of transactions processed via Tradeweb's Automated Intelligent Execution (AiEX) tool was 82.7%. Fixed income and commodity-based ETFs saw net buying in March, with ‘buys' surpassing ‘sells' by 10 and six percentage points, respectively.

Tradeweb Exchange-Traded Funds Update - March 2023

Four U.S. bank failures beginning with SVB rattled the banking world in March. Banks have serious problems of declining revenue and negative interest margin.

Why Did Banks Collapse?

U.S. fixed income funds lured in nearly $44 billion in the first quarter.

Bond ETFs Reign Supreme as Equity Funds Hemorrhage Assets

Investors pulled money out of equity ETFs during the first quarter, even as stocks soared.

Why Investors Are Shunning US Stock ETFs This Year

iShares 5-10 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

Schwab 5-10 Year Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF

SCHI has become one of the largest intermediate-term corporate bond ETFs in a year in which investors have largely shunned such funds.

Corporate Bond ETF Bucks Outflow Trend

iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF

SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Value ETF

Wall Street witnessed a decent March despite heightened volatility created by bank failures in the United States and Europe. A flight-to-safety led investors to flock to safe-haven U.S. Treasuries in the month.

March ETF Asset Report: U.S. Treasuries Win

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

Aberdeen Standard Bloomberg All Commodity Strategy K-1 Free ETF

iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares S&P 500 Value ETF

iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF

iShares Silver Trust

SPDR Portfolio Mid Cap ETF

SPDR Portfolio Small Cap ETF

iShares TIPS Bond ETF

Despite Volatility, Markets Post Gains in Q1 Despite bank failures and uncertainty regarding monetary policy and interest rates, equities posted gains in Q1 as the Nasdaq 100 Index was up nearly 17%, notching its best quarter since the second quarter of 2020. US growth stocks were among the best performers (+9.

Stay Defensive. Bull Markets Don't Start with the S&P 500 Trading at 18x Earnings

JPMorgan BetaBuilders Europe ETF

JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF

Overall, ETFs pulled in $76.9 billion capital in the first quarter.

5 ETFs That Hauled in the Maximum Asset Flow in Q1

First Trust Nasdaq Semiconductor ETF

First Trust Consumer Discretionary AlphaDEX Fund

U.S. equities rallied during the Refinitiv Lipper fund-flows week ended March 29, 2023, but fund flows remained defensive. On the equity side of the equation, both equity ETF (-$12.6 billion) and conventional equity funds (-$7.9 billion) witnessed net outflows for the week.

Despite Equity Rally, Conventional Fund And ETF Investors Stay On The Sidelines This Week

Deutsche Bank

First Citizens BancShares

Fund investors were net purchasers of money market funds while being net redeemers of equity funds, taxable bond funds, and tax-exempt fixed income funds for the week. On the domestic equity side of the equation, investors became more risk-seeking for the week.

U.S. Weekly FundFlows Insight Report: Despite Rally In U.S. Stocks, Equity ETF And Fund Investors Were Net Redeemers For Fund Flows Week

AXS Astoria Inflation Sensitive ETF

Global X Superdividend ETF

iShares 10-20 Year Treasury Bond ETF

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities ETF

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF

Exchange-traded funds may help when planning required minimum distributions.

Seniors and ETFs: It's About Taxes

iShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF

During Refinitiv Lipper's fund-flows week that ended March 22, 2023, investors were overall net purchasers of fund assets (including both conventional funds and ETFs) for the fourth week in a row, adding a net of $133.3 billion. Exchange-traded equity funds recorded $14.6 billion in weekly net inflows, marking the second weekly inflow in the last five weeks.

U.S. Weekly FundFlows Insight Report: Government-Treasury Funds Set New Weekly Record With $8.3 Billion In Inflows

Here's where investors have been putting their money since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

ETF Investors Target High Quality Stocks, Safe Havens in Bank Crisis

Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF

iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF

SPDR S&P Bank ETF

Ninth-straight increase suggests rates will stay high for a long stretch.

Investors Bid Up Treasury ETFs After Quarter-Point Rate Hike

Vanguard Real Estate ETF

iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN Class A

As the bank crisis hots up for the U.S. ETF market, the contagion may now be impacting mortgages. The average rate on the 30-year fixed dropped to 6.

News for iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF ETF (IEF)