The median return of all plans in the State Street Universe rose 3.4% in the first quarter and 30% for the year ended March 31, confirmed spokeswoman Alicia Curran Sweeney.
Corporate pension plans, at 32.6%, had the highest returns for the 12 months ended March 31; followed by endowments and foundations, 32%; public funds, 30.4%; master trust funds with less than $1 billion in assets, 30.8%; Taft-Hartley plans, 30.3%; and master trust funds with $1 billion or more in assets, 29%.
Median returns for various asset classes varied by almost 1,000 basis points for the one-year returns. Emerging markets was the top performer, returning 82%; followed by developed markets, 54.7%; global equity, 54%; U.S. equity; 53.6%; global fixed income; 20.8%; hedge funds, 16.5%; U.S. fixed income, 14.1%; private equity, 6.3%; venture capital, 3.6%; and real estate, -17.1%.
The top performer for the quarter ended March 31, was U.S. equity at 6.1%, while real estate the worst performer, ended the quarter even.
The State Street Universe consists of about 20,000 portfolios with a combined asset value of more than $2 trillion.
