Plans in the Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service returned a median 2.88% in the three months ended June 30, down from the median 4.02% in the first quarter.
The second quarter of 2017 also marks the seventh consecutive quarter of positive returns for all plan types, which is the longest stretch since the 14 consecutive positive quarters ended June 1998.
Corporate defined benefit plans returned a median 3.13% for the quarter, followed by public DB plans, 2.9%; foundations and endowments, 2.78%; Taft-Hartley pension plans, 2.65%; and Taft-Hartley health and welfare funds, 1.7%.
The median 2.88% return for the quarter helped drive the universe's one-year median return to 11.31%.
For the 12 months ended June 30, public pension plans were the best-performing plan type with a median return of 12.41%, followed by foundations and endowments, 11.7%; Taft-Hartley pension plans, 11.57%; corporate pension plans, 9.58%; and Taft-Hartley health and welfare funds, 6.35%.
Longer term, for the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, the TUCS universe returned a median annualized 4.85%, 8.27% and 5.4%, respectively.
When measured by trust size, Wilshire TUCS includes more than 1,200 plans with more than $3.6 trillion in assets combined.