NZF vs TLT: Correlation
Nuveen Municipal Credit Income Fund (NZF) and iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) show a strong relationship: their 3-year correlation of weekly returns is 0.70.
Data as of 2026-08-27 · refreshed every trading day · weekly returns · methodology
How correlated are NZF and TLT?
On 3 years of weekly data the NZF/TLT correlation comes out at 0.70, strong. The link has loosened recently: the 1-year correlation (0.53) runs below the 3-year figure (0.70). The 5-year figure is 0.54, and annualized covariance runs at 109.1 %².
Among the 25 assets we track against NZF, TLT ranks #15 by 3-year correlation. Over the last 12 months NZF came out ahead by 10.5 percentage points (+10.8% against +0.3%).
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.
NZF vs TLT: side by side
| NZF (Nuveen Municipal Credit Income Fund) | TLT (iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1-year return | +10.8% | +0.3% |
| 5-year return | -4.1% | -34.0% |
| Volatility (ann.) | 11.6% | 13.5% |
| Beta vs S&P 500 | 0.30 | 0.11 |
| Max drawdown (3Y) | -12.4% | -14.8% |
| Market cap | $2.4B | – |
| P/E (trailing) | 13.5 | – |
| Dividend yield | 7.80% | 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 | NZF | TLT |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | -25.5% | -31.2% |
| 2023 | +2.5% | +2.8% |
| 2024 | +10.1% | -8.1% |
| 2025 | +11.8% | +4.2% |
| 2026 | +2.4% | -2.1% |
Calendar-year price returns; the current year is year-to-date as of the data date above.
Are NZF and TLT good diversifiers for each other?
Only partially. A correlation of 0.70 means NZF and TLT share most of their swings. Pairing them dampens volatility somewhat, but it will not protect against a common drawdown.
FAQ
What is the correlation between NZF and TLT?
As of 2026-08-27, the correlation of weekly returns between NZF and TLT is 0.70 over 3 years, 0.53 over 1 year and 0.54 over 5 years.
Is TLT a good diversifier for NZF?
Only partially. A correlation of 0.70 means NZF and TLT share most of their swings. Pairing them dampens volatility somewhat, but it will not protect against a common drawdown.
What does a correlation of 0.70 mean?
On the −1 to +1 scale, 0.70 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/nzf-vs-tlt.json
Markdown for the live badge, attribution link included:
[](https://www.pairbook.io/pair/nzf-vs-tlt/)
The core API is free. Terms and every endpoint in the API documentation.
Related comparisons
Hubs: NZF correlations · TLT correlations
