BND holds about 11,500 investment-grade US dollar bonds, including Treasuries, corporate debt and mortgage-backed securities. It uses representative sampling to track the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, excluding tax-exempt and inflation-protected bonds.
History and development
BND began on April 3, 2007, offering broad exposure to US investment-grade bonds as a different asset class from equity-market ETFs. It is not restricted to Treasuries alone. Its fund price represents a portfolio of bonds and should not be confused with the yield series of an individual government-bond maturity.
References: Vanguard: BND factsheet
Comparing charts on this board
Compare broad investment-grade BND with long-Treasury TLT. A larger TLT response highlights long-maturity sensitivity. US ten- and thirty-year yields connect the funds' price moves with rate changes.
Add the S&P 500 and distinguish joint gains, stocks down with bonds up, and joint declines. These patterns direct the next investigation toward growth, rates or inflation. ETF prices and yield charts are different measurements.
Related charts: TLT · US 10Y Yield · US 30Y Yield · S&P 500
Official references: Vanguard: BND