Mellon's US Master Trust Universe Ends Q106 in the Black
A news release from Mellon Analytical Solutions said the universe, made up of 502 corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley, and health care funds, posted a combined 4.66% return for the three-month period. Mellon said that 99% of the plans showed positive results for the quarter and 86% outperformed the universe’s composite benchmark (Russell 3000 Index 50%, Lehman Brothers Aggregate 40%, MSCI World ex-US 10%).
“US and Non-US Equities were the star performers for plans this quarter, offsetting the flat to negative returns by Fixed Income,” said Steve Cole, MAS universe product manager, in the news release. “Over the past three years, Non-US Equities have been the largest contributor to fund performance with a three-year annualized median return of 32.12%.”
Non-US Equities took the lead position for the quarter with a median return of 9.54%, which lagged the MSCI AC W XUS Index return of 9.76%. Meanwhile, US Equities generated a return of 5.95%, slightly in front of the Russell 3000 Index return of 5.31%. Non-US Fixed Income posted a median result of 0.37%, besting the Citigroup World Government Non-US return of -0.19%.
According to the announcement, US Fixed Income was the only asset class in negative territory with a giveback of -0.35%, versus the Lehman Brothers Aggregate return of -0.65%.
Judging by plan type, Mellon said that endowment plans were the top performers first quarter with a 5.25% median return, followed by Public, Foundation, Corporate, Taft-Hartley and Health care funds.
The average asset allocation in the US Master Trust Universe for the first quarter was: US Equity 42%, US Fixed Income 23%, Non-US Equity 20%, Non-US Fixed Income 1%, Alternative Investments 5%, Real Estate 2%, Cash 1%, and Other (Private Equity, Oil, Gas, etc.) 6%.
The US Master Trust Universe represents a market value of $1.4 trillion with an average plan size of $2.9 billion. Mellon Analytical Solutions provides performance measurement, attribution and investment analysis services to more than 2,600 institutional investors in 25 countries and is responsible for $6 trillion in assets under measurement. More information is at www.mellon.com .