Four Bond ETFs Your Broker Forgot To Tell You About

There have been no May flowers as of yet for the bulls as the fifth month of the year has gotten off to a rocky start to say the least with weak earnings and economic reports and a hefty decline in silver sending buyers running for cover. Even with this week's market calamity, it's hard to make a bet on U.S. Treasuries from the long side, but there are some other interesting options out there in the world of bond ETFs that offer yield and perhaps a place to hide if “sell in May and go away” really is a phenomenon we have to deal with this year. Have a look at these four bond ETFs that don't get a lot of attention. 1) PowerShares Fundamental High Yield Corporate Bond Portfolio PHB: As is indicated in the title, PHB is a junk bond play, but the ETF does compensate investors for that risk with a distribution yield of 6.24%. With an expense ratio of 0.5%, PHB holds 187 corporate bond issues and while these issues are speculative in nature, the issuers behind many of PHB's holdings are familiar names. That roster includes Ford F, Sprint Nextel S and US Steel X among others. PHB is diverse at the sector level as well as consumer cyclicals, consumer non-cyclicals, communications, energy and financial services names all get double-digit weights. 2) iShares S&P/Citigroup International Treasury Bond ETF IGOV: OK, so Uncle Sam's Treasuries may not be your cup of tea, but if you want the same type of conservative investment with an international tilt, checkout IGOV. The yield isn't much, if any, better than what you'd get with U.S. Treasuries, but IGOV offers a fair expense ratio (0.35%) and exposure to developed markets such as Australia, France, Germany and Japan. 3) WisdomTree Asia Local Debt Fund ALD: ALD isn't even three months old, but has already accumulated almost $240 million in assets under management. Actively managed, ALD does offer plenty of emerging exposure, but the more than 44% of the ETF's weight is allocated to AAA-rated debt. Constituent countries include: South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, India, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand, according to WisdomTree's Web site. 4) SPDR Barclays Capital Convertible Securities ETF CWB: CWB, which obviously tracks convertible bond issues, has been a solid performer in the past year, gaining 14%. With an expense ratio of 0.4%, CWB holds about 115 convertible bond issues of greater than $500 million from issuers such as EMC EMC, General Motors GM and Wells Fargo WFC. CWB currently yields 3.2%.