Census Bureau: Public pension assets drop 1.8% in third quarter

The 100 largest public employee retirement systems in the U.S. had their first quarterly investment losses since the third quarter of 2012, said the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions.

Reporting on the third quarter of 2014, Census officials found that assets dropped 1.8% to $3.3 trillion as of Sept. 30 from the all-time high of $3.37 trillion as of June 30, but increased 8% from Sept. 30, 2013.

Investment earnings of $129.4 billion in the second quarter dropped to losses of $43 billion in the third quarter.

International securities had the largest quarterly decline, decreasing 4.9% in the third quarter. Representing 18.9% of holdings, the asset class decreased 2.1% year-to-year. Corporate stocks, which make up 35.3% of holdings, decreased 0.7% in the third quarter to $1.168 trillion, but were up 10.3% from the previous year.

Earnings increased in the quarter for corporate bonds, which represent 11.5% of holdings, and federal government securities, which account for 9.3% of holdings. Corporate bonds grew 2.7% to $381.3 billion, up 18.4% from the same quarter in 2013, while federal securities grew 0.1% in the quarter and 15.8% from the previous year.

Employer contributions, which accounted for 71.8% of total contributions, increased 4.3% in the third quarter, while employee contributions decreased 12.8%.

The 100 public pension systems represent 88.4% of all U.S. public pension fund assets.