The median return of all plans in the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe was 3.74% in the second quarter ended June 30, up from 1.94% in the quarter ended March 31.
The Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service returned a median 3.43% for the second quarter, up from 1.66% in the first quarter. And, Northern Trust's institutional universe returned a median 4%up from 2% in the first quarter.
In the BNY Mellon universe, corporate plans had the highest median return of 4% for the quarter, followed by public plans, which returned 3.85%; endowments, 3.66%; health-care plans, 3.6%; foundations, 3.59%; and Taft-Hartley plans, 3.22%.
Among the various plan types in TUCS, public plans had the highest median returns for the quarter, at 3.71%, followed by corporate plans at 3.66%; Taft-Hartley plans, 3.44%; and foundations and endowments, 3.42%.
At Northern Trust, corporate plans were the top performers for the quarter, returning a median 4%, up from 2.8% last quarter. Public plans returned a median 3.9%, while foundations and endowments returned a median 3.5%.
BNY Mellon reported international and domestic equity had the top median returns for the quarter at 4.68% and 4.5%, respectively. The Northern Trust universe also got its best returns from international and domestic equities.
John Houser, senior consultant for BNY Mellon's global risk solutions group, said in a telephone interview that the returns were “significant,” adding, “definitely plans benefited from taking on more risk this quarter.”
“In a quarter where the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index and Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index returns are a solid 4.86% and 2.04%, respectively, it isn't surprising that overall plan returns are also strong,” Robert J. Waid, managing director at Wilshire Associates, said in a news release.
For the year ended June 30, the median return for BNY Mellon's universe was 16.22%. Public pension funds had the highest median return, 17.16%; corporate plans, 16.88%; foundations, 16.17%; endowments, 15.99%; Taft-Hartley plans, 15.26%; and health-care plans, 14.83%.
In TUCS, Taft-Hartley plans led the one-year returns with 16.88%, followed by public plans, 16.86%; foundations and endowments, at 15.8%; and corporate plans, 15.65%.
Median one-year returns for the Northern Trust universe were 17.1% for public plans, 17% for corporate plans and 15.8% for foundations and endowments.
