BMEZ vs HQL: Correlation
How closely do BlackRock Health Sciences Term Trust (BMEZ) and abrdn Life Sciences Investors Shares of Beneficial Interest (HQL) trade together? Their weekly returns over three years give a correlation of 0.68, which is strong.
Data as of 2026-08-27 · refreshed every trading day · weekly returns · methodology
How correlated are BMEZ and HQL?
On 3 years of weekly data the BMEZ/HQL correlation comes out at 0.68, strong. The relationship has been stable: the 1-year correlation (0.67) sits close to the 3-year figure. The 5-year figure is 0.71, and annualized covariance runs at 265.9 %².
By 3-year correlation, HQL places #5 of the 23 assets tracked against BMEZ. Their recent paths diverged sharply: over the last 12 months HQL outperformed by 44.5 percentage points (+31.4% for BMEZ against +75.9% for HQL).
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.
BMEZ vs HQL: side by side
| BMEZ (BlackRock Health Sciences Term Trust) | HQL (abrdn Life Sciences Investors Shares of Beneficial Interest) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1-year return | +31.4% | +75.9% |
| 5-year return | +0.9% | +74.1% |
| Volatility (ann.) | 16.5% | 23.5% |
| Beta vs S&P 500 | 0.63 | 0.88 |
| Max drawdown (3Y) | -18.3% | -25.1% |
| Market cap | $1.1B | – |
| P/E (trailing) | 6.7 | 3.2 |
| Dividend yield | 0.00% | 8.87% |
| Sector / category | US Listed | US Listed |
Year-by-year returns
| Year | BMEZ | HQL |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | -32.7% | -19.2% |
| 2023 | +5.1% | +4.2% |
| 2024 | +9.5% | +11.0% |
| 2025 | +18.7% | +45.5% |
| 2026 | +20.6% | +40.9% |
Calendar-year price returns; the current year is year-to-date as of the data date above.
Are BMEZ and HQL good diversifiers for each other?
To a limited degree. At 0.68 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 BMEZ and HQL?
As of 2026-08-27, the correlation of weekly returns between BMEZ and HQL is 0.68 over 3 years, 0.67 over 1 year and 0.71 over 5 years.
Is HQL a good diversifier for BMEZ?
To a limited degree. At 0.68 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 0.68 mean?
On the −1 to +1 scale, 0.68 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/bmez-vs-hql.json
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[](https://www.pairbook.io/pair/bmez-vs-hql/)
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Related comparisons
Hubs: BMEZ correlations · HQL correlations
