BBN vs IEF: Correlation
How closely do BlackRock Taxable Municipal Bond Trust (BBN) and iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) trade together? Their weekly returns over three years give a correlation of 0.74, which is strong.
Data as of 2026-08-27 · refreshed every trading day · weekly returns · methodology
How correlated are BBN and IEF?
Over the past 3 years, BBN and IEF moved with a correlation of 0.74, which is strong. Little has changed lately, as the 1-year reading of 0.67 lands near the 3-year figure. Over 5 years the correlation is 0.71, and the annualized covariance of weekly returns is 58.7 %².
Within BBN's tracked universe of 18 assets, IEF comes in at #4 by 3-year correlation. Neither side won the trailing year by much: +4.4% against +0.9%. Note the risk asymmetry: BBN runs 1.9 times the annualized volatility of the other leg, so equal-weighting the two is not an equal-risk position.
How is this computed?
Pearson correlation on weekly returns: ρ(A,B) = cov(rA, rB) / (σA · σB), over windows of 52, 156 and 260 weeks. Covariance is annualized (×52) and expressed in %². Full definitions on the methodology page.
BBN vs IEF: side by side
| BBN (BlackRock Taxable Municipal Bond Trust) | IEF (iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1-year return | +4.4% | +0.9% |
| 5-year return | -14.4% | -7.9% |
| Volatility (ann.) | 12.3% | 6.5% |
| Beta vs S&P 500 | 0.26 | 0.04 |
| Max drawdown (3Y) | -11.8% | -6.9% |
| Market cap | $1.0B | – |
| P/E (trailing) | 12.5 | – |
| Dividend yield | 0.00% | 3.96% |
| Expense ratio | – | 0.15% |
| Assets under management | – | $47.2B |
| Sector / category | US Listed | ETF · Bonds |
On the fund side, IEF sits in the Long Government category at iShares, with $47.2B under management, a 0.15% expense ratio, a 3.96% trailing dividend yield.
Year-by-year returns
| Year | BBN | IEF |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | -31.0% | -15.2% |
| 2023 | +3.6% | +3.6% |
| 2024 | +6.0% | -0.6% |
| 2025 | +8.6% | +8.0% |
| 2026 | +2.3% | -0.8% |
Calendar-year price returns; the current year is year-to-date as of the data date above.
Are BBN and IEF good diversifiers for each other?
Somewhat, no more. With 0.74 correlation, most large moves hit both names, and the diversification benefit stays modest.
FAQ
What is the correlation between BBN and IEF?
As of 2026-08-27, the correlation of weekly returns between BBN and IEF is 0.74 over 3 years, 0.67 over 1 year and 0.71 over 5 years.
Is IEF a good diversifier for BBN?
Somewhat, no more. With 0.74 correlation, most large moves hit both names, and the diversification benefit stays modest.
What does a correlation of 0.74 mean?
On the −1 to +1 scale, 0.74 describes how much the two returns move together: +1 is lockstep, 0 is independence, negative values mean opposite directions. It says nothing about which performed better.
Use this data
$ curl https://www.pairbook.io/api/v1/pairs/bbn-vs-ief.json
Embed this badge (it refreshes with the data), with attribution:
[](https://www.pairbook.io/pair/bbn-vs-ief/)
No key needed, free to use. Full endpoint list in the API documentation.
Related comparisons
Hubs: BBN correlations · IEF correlations
