PR Newswire
NEW YORK
(NYSE:BK)
Feb 10, 2009
US plans post negative returns for fifth straight quarter
BOSTON, February 10, 2009 — The median plan for the 654 corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley and health care plans that make up the BNY Mellon Master Trust Universe posted a -13.10% return for the fourth quarter of 2008, representing the fifth straight quarter of negative returns. US plans lost over a quarter of their value in 2008, with the median return down -25.23% for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2008. This marks the worst 12-month return in more than 20 years. The last time the median plan posted a negative full-year return was in 2002 when it was down -8.7%.
The BNY Mellon US Master Trust Universe represents a market value of $1.1 trillion, with an average plan size of $1.6 billion.
"All segments in the BNY Mellon Master Trust Universe posted losses in the fourth quarter, however, the health care segment was the only one to post single-digit losses for the period with a median return of
Highlights
"Fourth quarter returns were pulled down by equity markets, with both domestic and international markets down more than 20% for the period," said Stewart. "With the flight to quality, fixed income markets were the sole safe haven in the quarter, with US fixed income posting a positive return of over 2%. For the year, it's the same story with equities down significantly. Asset owners who looked outside US equity markets paid a price as the median return of the Non-US asset class was down a staggering 43.5%."
The average asset allocation in the BNY Mellon US Master Trust Universe for the fourth quarter was: US equity 29%, US fixed income 28%, non-US equity 15%, non-US fixed income 2%, alternative investments 11%, real estate 4%, cash 2%, and other (private equity, oil, gas, etc.) 9%.
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing offers clients worldwide a broad spectrum of specialized asset servicing capabilities, including custody and fund services, securities lending, performance and analytics, and execution services. BNY Mellon Asset Servicing provides services through The Bank of New York Mellon and other related companies.
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation is a global financial services company focused on helping clients manage and service their financial assets, operating in 34 countries and serving more than 100 markets. The company is a leading provider of financial services for institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals, providing superior asset management and wealth management, asset servicing, issuer services, clearing services and treasury services through a worldwide client-focused team. It has $20.2 trillion in assets under custody and administration, $928 billion in assets under management and services more than $11 trillion in outstanding debt. Additional information is available at bnymellon.com.
BNY Mellon US Trust Universe Median Plan Returns | |||||
Period Ending December 31, 2008 |
|||||
Universe | Number of Participants |
4Q 2008 | One-Year | Five-Years | Ten-Years |
Master Trust Total Fund | 654 | -13.10 | -25.23 | 1.98 | 3.47 |
Corporate Plans | 275 | -12.63 | -25.71 | 2.07 | 3.48 |
Foundations | 98 | -13.94 | -26.31 | 1.79 | 3.94 |
Endowments | 88 | -13.44 | -24.78 | 2.88 | 3.82 |
Public Plans | 85 | -14.02 | -26.79 | 2.11 | 3.42 |
Taft-Hartley Plans | 60 | -12.18 | -24.32 | 0.92 | 2.63 |
Health Care Plans | 22 | -9.50 | -16.35 | 2.63 | 3.65 |
Universe Custom Composite Benchmark | -16.63 | -30.13 | -0.03 | 0.78 | |
*Russell Investment Group is the owner of the trademarks, service marks, and copyrights related to its indexes. |