Master trusts in the Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service had a median 4.49% return in the third quarter and 16.18% for the year ended Sept. 30.
Public funds had the highest median return for the three months ended Sept. 30, at 4.67%. Close behind were Taft-Hartley defined benefit plans, 4.62% and corporate DB plans, 4.61%. Foundations and endowments returned a median 4.41%.
For the 12 months ended Sept. 30, Taft-Hartley DB plans led with a 17.5% return. Corporate and public plans had nearly equal median returns at 16.7% and 16.68%, respectively, followed by foundations and endowments, 14.98%.
Trusts with a typical 60% equity/40% fixed-income allocation returned 20% for the 12 months and 4.32% for the quarter.
The Wilshire 5000 Total Market index returned 6.07% for the quarter and 29.89% for the year ended Sept. 30.
Active domestic bond investments returned a median 2.57% for the quarter and 8.45% for the year, compared to benchmark returns of 1.58% and 5.16%, respectively.
Master trusts with more than $1 billion in assets had similar returns to those with more than $5 billion in assets, with identical one-year returns of 16.07%. Trusts with more than $5 billion performed slightly better for the quarter, 4.59% against 4.56%.
Wilshire TUCS includes more than 1,500 plans with more than $2.9 trillion in assets.
