When the returns of two stocks are perfectly positively correlated then?
Sarah Garza
Updated on February 07, 2026
The returns of the two securities then move up or down together. 45 Thus, when the security returns are perfectly positively correlated, diversification provides only risk averaging and no risk reduction because the portfolio risk cannot be reduced below the individual security risk.
What is the correlation of returns on the two stocks?
positive correlation
Stocks can be positively correlated when they move up or down in tandem. A correlation value of 1 means two stocks have a perfect positive correlation. If one stock moves up while the other goes down, they would have a perfect negative correlation, noted by a value of -1.
What is the meaning when we say two perfectly correlated portfolios?
Mean-Standard Deviation Diagram: Portfolios of Two Perfectly Positively Correlated Stocks. This Exhibit demonstrates that it is possible to eliminate risk—that is, to achieve zero variance—with a portfolio of two perfectly positively correlated stocks.
What does it mean when two stocks are perfectly negatively correlated?
When two or more investments move inversely to each other they have negative correlation. Two assets that were perfectly negatively correlated would eliminate risk of the combined assets.
Can stocks be perfectly negatively correlated?
Negative correlations between two stocks may exist for some fundamental reason such as opposite sensitivities to changes in interest rates. Asset classes on whole, such as stocks and bonds, may also tend to be negatively correlated.
What stocks are negatively correlated?
Examples of Negative Correlation Assets Oil prices and airline stocks. Gold prices and stock markets (most of the time, but not always) Any type of insurance payoff.
What is a good correlation for stocks?
A correlation coefficient of 1 indicates a perfect positive correlation between the prices of two stocks, meaning the stocks always move the same direction by the same amount. A coefficient of -1 indicates a perfect negative correlation, meaning that the stocks have historically always moved in the opposite direction.
What is the risk of a 2 security portfolio?
The risk of a two-asset portfolio is dependent on the proportions of each asset, their standard deviations and the correlation (or covariance) between the assets’ returns. As the number of assets in a portfolio increases, the correlation among asset risks becomes a more important determinate of portfolio risk.
How to calculate the correlation of two stocks?
Portfolios of Two Perfectly Positively Correlated or Perfectly Negatively Correlated Assets. We noted in the last subsection that with perfect positive correlation, the standard deviation of a portfolio with positive weights on both stocks equals the portfolio-weighted average of the two standard deviations.
Are there any stocks that are negatively correlated with each other?
Many stocks are positively correlated with each other and the overall stock market, which can make diversification with only stocks difficult. Investors may look outside the stock market for assets that are negatively correlated. Commodities may have a higher likelihood…
What are the means and standard deviations of two perfectly correlated stocks?
The exhibit shows the plotted means and standard deviations obtainable from portfolios of two perfectly positively correlated stocks.
What happens to the portfolio of two perfectly correlated investments?
Also, when the portfolio weights on both investments are positive, the mean and the standard deviation of a portfolio of two perfectly correlated investments are portfolio-weighted averages of the means and standard deviations of the individual assets.