BBN vs SHY: Correlation
How closely do BlackRock Taxable Municipal Bond Trust (BBN) and iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY) trade together? Their weekly returns over three years give a correlation of 0.63, which is strong.
Data as of 2026-08-27 · refreshed every trading day · weekly returns · methodology
How correlated are BBN and SHY?
On 3 years of weekly data the BBN/SHY correlation comes out at 0.63, strong. Recent behaviour matches the longer record: 0.57 over 1 year against 0.63 over 3. The 5-year figure is 0.55, and annualized covariance runs at 12.0 %².
Within BBN's tracked universe of 18 assets, SHY comes in at #12 by 3-year correlation. Neither side won the trailing year by much: +4.4% against +2.5%. One caveat on sizing: BBN is 7.7 times as volatile as the other leg, so an equal-dollar split is far from equal-risk.
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 SHY: side by side
| BBN (BlackRock Taxable Municipal Bond Trust) | SHY (iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1-year return | +4.4% | +2.5% |
| 5-year return | -14.4% | +9.6% |
| Volatility (ann.) | 12.3% | 1.6% |
| Beta vs S&P 500 | 0.26 | 0.00 |
| Max drawdown (3Y) | -11.8% | -1.0% |
| Market cap | $1.0B | – |
| P/E (trailing) | 12.5 | – |
| Dividend yield | 0.00% | 3.65% |
| Expense ratio | – | 0.15% |
| Assets under management | – | $25.1B |
| Sector / category | US Listed | ETF · Bonds |
SHY, iShares's Short Government fund, carries $25.1B under management, a 0.15% expense ratio, a 3.65% trailing dividend yield.
Year-by-year returns
| Year | BBN | SHY |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | -31.0% | -3.9% |
| 2023 | +3.6% | +4.2% |
| 2024 | +6.0% | +3.9% |
| 2025 | +8.6% | +5.0% |
| 2026 | +2.3% | +1.1% |
Calendar-year price returns; the current year is year-to-date as of the data date above.
Are BBN and SHY good diversifiers for each other?
To a limited degree. At 0.63 the two still catch most of the same waves, so the pair smooths returns a little without insulating either from a shared selloff.
FAQ
What is the correlation between BBN and SHY?
As of 2026-08-27, the correlation of weekly returns between BBN and SHY is 0.63 over 3 years, 0.57 over 1 year and 0.55 over 5 years.
Is SHY a good diversifier for BBN?
To a limited degree. At 0.63 the two still catch most of the same waves, so the pair smooths returns a little without insulating either from a shared selloff.
What does a correlation of 0.63 mean?
On the −1 to +1 scale, 0.63 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-shy.json
Drop this badge in a README or notebook; it updates with the data:
[](https://www.pairbook.io/pair/bbn-vs-shy/)
No key needed, free to use. Full endpoint list in the API documentation.
Related comparisons
Hubs: BBN correlations · SHY correlations
