Total pension fund assets reached an estimated $9.84 trillion at the...

Total pension fund assets reached an estimated $9.84 trillion at the end of 2000, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve Board, a slight increase from the $9.74 trillion estimated a year earlier. Most of the asset growth is attributable to state and local pension funds, which grew at a healthy clip to $3.12 trillion at the end of last year, up from $2.96 trillion at the end of 1999. Private defined benefit and defined contribution plan assets dropped nearly 2% from the previous year to $4.64 trillion. And, for the first time, private defined contribution assets fell, albeit by a small amount, to $2.52 trillion at the end of last year from $2.53 trillion at the end of 1999.