All plan types post negative results for the second quarter
BOSTON, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The median plan for the 599
corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley and healthcare funds
that make up the BNY Mellon Master Trust Universe posted a combined -0.77%
return for the second quarter of 2008, marking the third straight quarter of
negative returns. Despite the negative performance, the median plan
outperformed the universe's custom benchmark by nearly 60 basis points,
beating its -1.35% second quarter return.
The BNY Mellon Master Trust Universe represents a market value of $1.6
trillion, with an average plan size of $2.7 billion.
'All plan types posted negative results for Q2, though the returns are a
marked improvement over the first quarter,' said Greg Stewart, first vice
president and regional product manager of BNY Mellon Asset Servicing.
Endowments were the strongest performing plan type, posting a -0.25% return,
while corporate plans trailed all segments with a return of just under -1.00%.
Year-to-date, all segments are down, with healthcare plans being the best
relative performer, a pattern repeated over a one-year period.
Highlights
-- Of the plans in the universe, 77% posted negative results for the
period ending June 30, 2008.
-- Endowments were the top performing plan-type for the second quarter
with a -0.24% median return, followed by healthcare, foundations, public,
Taft-Hartley, and corporate plans.
-- US fixed income led all asset classes for the quarter with a median
return of -0.92%, outperforming the Lehman Brothers(R) Aggregate return of
-1.02. Non-US fixed income posted a median return of -3.13, ahead of the
Citigroup(R) Non-US Dollar World Government Bond Index return of -4.72. US
equities returned -0.94%, compared to the Russell 3000(R) Index* return of
-1.69%. Non-US equities returned -1.42%, lagging the MSCI(R) All Country
World Index ex US return of -0.01%.
'Equity returns were down again this quarter, but in contrast to previous
quarters, non-US fixed income was the worst performing asset class, losing
more than 3%,' said Stewart.
