Trusts in the Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service returned a median -0.04% in the second of 2015, down from 2.13% the previous quarter, but outperforming the classic 60/40 portfolio of stocks and bonds for the second consecutive quarter, which returned -0.64%.
Foundations and endowments were the best performers, returning a median 0.25% for the three months ended June 30, followed by U.S. public defined benefit plans at 0.04% and Taft-Hartley DB plans, 0.11%.
Dragged down by their higher allocations to bonds, Taft-Hartley health and welfare funds and corporate DB plans were the weakest performers, returning -0.27% and -0.48%, respectively.
By size, large plans outperformed smaller plans in the quarter due to their higher allocations to international equities and smaller allocations to U.S. equities.
For the three months ended June 30, the MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. returned 0.53% and the Wilshire 5000 Total Market index, 0.06%. That compares with the Barclays U.S. Aggregate index, which fell -1.68% in the quarter.
For the one-, three-, five- and 10-year periods ended June 30, the universe posted median returns of 2.85%, 9.94%, 10.34% and 6.57%, respectively. (Figures for more than one year are compound annualized.)
Taft-Hartley DB plans were the best performers in the 12 months, returning a median 3.46%, followed by U.S. public DB plans at 3.43%; foundations and endowments, 2.7%; corporate DB plans, 2.47%; and Taft-Hartley health and welfare funds, 2.22%.
For the 12 months ended June 30, the MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. is down -5.26%. That compares with the Wilshire 5000 Total Market index and the Barclay U.S. Aggregate index, which returned 7.09% and 1.86% over the year.
As of Sept. 30, Wilshire TUCS included more than 1,500 plans with more than $3.7 trillion in assets.
