Northern Trust: Plan Sponsors Gain Again
Investors see positive returns for 3Q09
October 26, 2009
For the second consecutive quarter U.S. plan sponsors posted strong gains, Northern Trust reported today.
The median return for investors was 10.9% for the third quarter.
The data represents performance results compiled by the Northern Trust Universe, which includes more than 300 large institutional investments with a combined value of roughly $596 billion.
For the period ending September 30, 2009 corporate pension plans posted a median return of 12.7%, public funds returned 11.6% and foundations and endowments posted gains of 9.9%, according to Northern Trust data.
“The last five quarters have been a tale of two extremes for institutional plan sponsors, reflecting the volatility of global markets,” said William Frieske, senior performance consultant for Northern Trust’s Investment Risk & Analytical Services, in a statement. “Since mid-2008, institutional investors have experienced two of their worst quarters and two of their best quarters, in terms of performance. In fact, the second and third quarters of 2009 are the best back-to-back quarters on record, according to our database, which has tracked institutional investment performance since 1997.”
The asset classes that saw the most lucrative returns during the third quarter were emerging markets equity with gains of 21%, small-cap equity with returns of 19% and high yield fixed-income, which returned 6% for the three-month period.
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