iShares Core Canadian Universe Bond Index ETF…

iShares Core Canadian Universe Bond Index ETF (XBB.TO)

28.20

+0.02 (0.07%)

as of Jun 4, 2026, 7:59:26 pm Market Open.

73 watching

COMMENT

iShares DEX Universe Bond (XBB-T) or iShares 1-5yr Laddered Corp Bond Fund (CBO-T) for the best long-term hold? These are 2 very different things. The XBB would have lost you money. It is two thirds government and one third corporate. Has about 750 names and would’ve lost about 1.5% last year with a yield of about 3%. The CBO is short in duration with a yield of around 4% and the duration of about 3 with about 45 names in it. It is laddered 1 to 5 years and this is his preference if you must be in bonds.

COMMENT

His opinion depends on the duration. Prefers to keep his duration very short. Just go to any of the index providers and the ETF Facts page will tell you the yield to maturity as well as the duration of the portfolio. The other important thing with bonds is to make sure of what is the stated yield on the bond and look at what is the yield to maturity. If there is a substantial difference, and the yield to maturity is that much less than the bond, either it’s a longer duration or they paid a premium price for some those bonds.

COMMENT

This is the Bond Universe, the key benchmark for fixed income institutionally. He owns this but has been slowly switching part of it to iShares DEX Short-Term Bond (XSB-T) because he is expecting interest rates to be moving up. If the bond market continues to rally like it is, he might pick up the pace.

BUY

If you only want to hold one fixed income investment, this is probably on the short list of one you want to own. Basically it just buys the Cdn bond market. It will give you market (less fees) returns. Great place to build a core position in and then you could look to add around this in the preferred or high yield space.

COMMENT

DEX Universe Bond ETF. It’s around 65% government and 35% corporate. Likes this, but he tends to look at the DEX Short Term Bond ETF (XSB-T) right now because the duration is shorter. It's about 2.7 years as opposed to 4.5 years on the XBB. This is important, because if rates start to go up you don't want to have longer-term bonds.

COMMENT

DEX Universe Bond ETF. With this ETF, you get every bond, which is about 1100 including government, provincials and corporate. Believes its duration is long so if interest rates rise, it would be affected adversely. This fund has done fairly well. He would prefer a corporate bond ETF.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick July 19/10. Up 6.59%.) Still likes but has been moving into the Corporate Bond ETF (HAB-T).

DON'T BUY

Government bond index. He thinks if you are going to use them you should use a broader based one. Prefers high yield or corporate broader basted.

WEAK BUY

Tracks the Canadian Bond universe. If you are a passive investor and want exposure to the bond market, it is not a bad place to invest, however the risk is that you are going to get the return of the bond index. He thinks you want to get more than the index. Return is dragged down by very short term bonds that don’t have much upside potential.

TOP PICK

Universal Canadian bond fund. Rather than holding money in cash or bankers acceptances that are paying less than .05%, this one yields about 3.9%. When interest rates start to rise, you might not want to be in this one.

COMMENT

Cdn Bond Market ETF. Price should hold up relatively well as he doesn't think interest rates will rise in the next 12 months. Not a fan of ETF’s, as he prefers individual bonds.

TOP PICK

Cdn bond market ETF. Barclays run this and they have $1.4 billion with 236 individual government bonds. For retail investors, individual bonds are hard to buy in small quantities without getting killed on the spread. 4.3% yield. If interest rates go up, this won't perform that well but if there is deflation, this is a holding action.

COMMENT

Cdn Bond Market ETF. Not expecting interest rates to rise significantly next year but bond market has already priced this in. This ETF is up about 4% this year but doesn't expect the bond index to rally more than 1%-2% in the next 6 months.

COMMENT

Canadian bond market ETF with a duration of about 5 years. For conservative investors.

DON'T BUY

Doesn't like this because you are buying the index and if you believe rates are going to rise, you want an actively managed portfolio. You don't want to hold anything in the 1-5 year area, which make up almost half this index.

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iShares Core Canadian Universe Bond Index ETF (XBB.TO)