Endowments Top Performing Plan Type in 3Q07

November 13, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The median plan for the 443 corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley, and health care funds that make up the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe posted a combined 2.24% return for the third quarter.

According to a BNY Mellon press release, this represents six consecutive quarters of positive returns with the median fund up over 9% year-to-date and over 15.5% on an annual basis.   Of the plans in the universe, 98% showed positive results. However, only 51% matched or outperformed the universe’s composite benchmark (Russell 3000 Index 50%, Lehman Brothers Aggregate 40%, MSCI All Country World Index ex US 10%) which returned 2.23% for the quarter.

Endowments were the top performing plan type for the third quarter with a 2.4% median return, followed by foundations (2.35%), public (2.29%), corporate (2.2%), health care (1.95%), and Taft-Hartley plans (1.92%), according to the BNY Mellon data.  

Get more!  Sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters.

Non-U.S. Fixed Income led all asset classes for the quarter with a median return of 4.02%, lagging the Citigroup Non-US Dollar World Government Bond Index return of 8.10%.    U.S. Fixed Income generated a median result of 2.87%, versus the Lehman Brothers Aggregate return of 2.84%.  

Non-U.S. Equities posted 3.19%, underperforming the MSCI All Country World Index ex US return of 4.69%.    U.S. Equities returned 1.23%, compared to the Russell 3000 Index return of 1.55%.  

The average asset allocation in the U.S. Master Trust Universe for the third quarter was: U.S. Equity 36%, U.S. Fixed Income 23%, Non-U.S. Equity 20%, Non-U.S. Fixed Income 1%, Alternative Investments 7%, Real Estate 2%, Cash 1%, and Other (Private Equity, Oil, Gas, etc.) 10%.

Additional information is available at www.bnymellon.com .

«