MFA vs NLY: Correlation
How closely do MFA Financial, Inc. (MFA) and Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NLY) 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 MFA and NLY?
On 3 years of weekly data the MFA/NLY correlation comes out at 0.74, strong. Little has changed lately, as the 1-year reading of 0.80 lands near the 3-year figure. The 5-year figure is 0.76, and annualized covariance runs at 436.2 %².
In MFA's tracked universe of 23 assets, NLY sits right near the top at #1. Their recent paths diverged sharply: over the last 12 months NLY outperformed by 22.6 percentage points (+2.8% for MFA against +25.4% for NLY).
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.
MFA vs NLY: side by side
| MFA (MFA Financial, Inc.) | NLY (Annaly Capital Management Inc.) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1-year return | +2.8% | +25.4% |
| 5-year return | -8.1% | +30.4% |
| Volatility (ann.) | 25.6% | 22.9% |
| Beta vs S&P 500 | 0.64 | 0.81 |
| Max drawdown (3Y) | -31.6% | -26.3% |
| Market cap | $0.9B | $17.4B |
| P/E (trailing) | 8.8 | 5.6 |
| Dividend yield | 16.36% | 12.47% |
| Sector / category | US Listed | US Listed |
Year-by-year returns
| Year | MFA | NLY |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | -37.2% | -21.4% |
| 2023 | +30.7% | +4.9% |
| 2024 | +2.6% | +8.1% |
| 2025 | +6.1% | +40.0% |
| 2026 | +2.6% | +10.2% |
Calendar-year price returns; the current year is year-to-date as of the data date above.
Are MFA and NLY good diversifiers for each other?
To a limited degree. At 0.74 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 MFA and NLY?
As of 2026-08-27, the correlation of weekly returns between MFA and NLY is 0.74 over 3 years, 0.80 over 1 year and 0.76 over 5 years.
Is NLY a good diversifier for MFA?
To a limited degree. At 0.74 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 0.74 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/mfa-vs-nly.json
Markdown for the live badge, attribution link included:
[](https://www.pairbook.io/pair/mfa-vs-nly/)
The core API is free. Terms and every endpoint in the API documentation.
Related comparisons
Hubs: MFA correlations · NLY correlations
