SPY vs UAL: Correlation
How closely do SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and United Airlines Holdings (UAL) trade together? Their weekly returns over three years give a correlation of 0.41, which is moderate.
Data as of 2026-08-27 · refreshed every trading day · weekly returns · methodology
How correlated are SPY and UAL?
Across a 3-year window, the weekly returns of SPY and UAL correlate at 0.41, moderate. Little has changed lately, as the 1-year reading of 0.38 lands near the 3-year figure. Stretching to 5 years gives 0.47, with an annualized covariance of 278.4 %².
By 3-year correlation, UAL places #1092 of the 4755 assets tracked against SPY. The trailing year gives SPY the advantage: +20.6% versus +7.8%, a 12.8-point spread. The relationship is regime-dependent: the rolling one-year correlation swung between 0.02 and 0.68 over the past three years, so this pair behaves very differently depending on the market environment. Risk is not evenly split, since UAL carries 3.2 times the volatility of the other side.
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.
SPY vs UAL: side by side
| SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust) | UAL (United Airlines Holdings) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1-year return | +20.6% | +7.8% |
| 5-year return | +82.4% | +144.8% |
| Volatility (ann.) | 14.5% | 46.6% |
| Beta vs S&P 500 | 1.00 | 1.33 |
| Max drawdown (3Y) | -18.8% | -49.2% |
| Market cap | – | $36.5B |
| P/E (trailing) | – | 10.8 |
| Dividend yield | 1.01% | 0.00% |
| Expense ratio | 0.09% | – |
| Assets under management | $795.3B | – |
| Sector / category | ETF · US Large Cap | Industrials |
SPY, State Street Investment Management's Large Blend fund, carries $795.3B under management, 504 holdings, a 0.09% expense ratio, a 1.01% trailing dividend yield.
Year-by-year returns
| Year | SPY | UAL |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | -18.2% | -13.9% |
| 2023 | +26.2% | +9.4% |
| 2024 | +24.9% | +135.3% |
| 2025 | +17.7% | +15.2% |
| 2026 | +13.7% | +0.5% |
Calendar-year price returns; the current year is year-to-date as of the data date above.
Fund exposure
A structural note: 0.06% of SPY is UAL itself, so the fund partly moves with the stock by construction.
Are SPY and UAL good diversifiers for each other?
A fair diversifier. At 0.41, enough of each asset's movement is its own that the pair has smoothed outcomes historically.
FAQ
What is the correlation between SPY and UAL?
As of 2026-08-27, the correlation of weekly returns between SPY and UAL is 0.41 over 3 years, 0.38 over 1 year and 0.47 over 5 years.
Is UAL a good diversifier for SPY?
A fair diversifier. At 0.41, enough of each asset's movement is its own that the pair has smoothed outcomes historically.
What does a correlation of 0.41 mean?
Correlation ranges from −1 to +1. Values near +1 mean two assets move together, near 0 that they move independently, and negative values that they tend to move in opposite directions. It measures co-movement, not performance.
Use this data
$ curl https://www.pairbook.io/api/v1/pairs/spy-vs-ual.json
Drop this badge in a README or notebook; it updates with the data:
[](https://www.pairbook.io/pair/spy-vs-ual/)
No key needed, free to use. Full endpoint list in the API documentation.
Related comparisons
Hubs: SPY correlations · UAL correlations
