FMY vs TLT: Correlation
How closely do First Trust Mortgage Income Fund (FMY) and iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) trade together? Their weekly returns over three years give a correlation of 0.42, which is moderate.
Data as of 2026-08-27 · refreshed every trading day · weekly returns · methodology
How correlated are FMY and TLT?
Over the past 3 years, FMY and TLT moved with a correlation of 0.42, which is moderate. Little has changed lately, as the 1-year reading of 0.46 lands near the 3-year figure. Over 5 years the correlation is 0.38, and the annualized covariance of weekly returns is 55.0 %².
Among the 12 assets we track against FMY, TLT ranks #4 by 3-year correlation. Their 12-month results are close: +2.3% for FMY against +0.3% for TLT.
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.
FMY vs TLT: side by side
| FMY (First Trust Mortgage Income Fund) | TLT (iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1-year return | +2.3% | +0.3% |
| 5-year return | +18.1% | -34.0% |
| Volatility (ann.) | 9.6% | 13.5% |
| Beta vs S&P 500 | 0.12 | 0.11 |
| Max drawdown (3Y) | -7.1% | -14.8% |
| Market cap | – | – |
| P/E (trailing) | 16.5 | – |
| Dividend yield | 6.94% | 4.75% |
| Expense ratio | – | 0.15% |
| Assets under management | – | $41.5B |
| Sector / category | US Listed | ETF · Bonds |
On the fund side, TLT sits in the Long Government category at iShares, with $41.5B under management, a 0.15% expense ratio, a 4.75% trailing dividend yield.
Year-by-year returns
| Year | FMY | TLT |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | -13.0% | -31.2% |
| 2023 | +16.1% | +2.8% |
| 2024 | +7.1% | -8.1% |
| 2025 | +8.6% | +4.2% |
| 2026 | +0.1% | -2.1% |
Calendar-year price returns; the current year is year-to-date as of the data date above.
Are FMY and TLT good diversifiers for each other?
A fair diversifier. At 0.42, enough of each asset's movement is its own that the pair has smoothed outcomes historically.
FAQ
What is the correlation between FMY and TLT?
Using weekly returns as of 2026-08-27: 0.42 over 3 years, with 0.46 over the last year and 0.38 over 5 years.
Is TLT a good diversifier for FMY?
A fair diversifier. At 0.42, enough of each asset's movement is its own that the pair has smoothed outcomes historically.
What does a correlation of 0.42 mean?
On the −1 to +1 scale, 0.42 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/fmy-vs-tlt.json
Markdown for the live badge, attribution link included:
[](https://www.pairbook.io/pair/fmy-vs-tlt/)
The core API is free. Terms and every endpoint in the API documentation.
Related comparisons
Hubs: FMY correlations · TLT correlations
