Institutional asset owners included in the Northern Trust All Funds Over $100 million Plan Universe delivered a median return of 3.7% for the first quarter.
The strong performance was supported by global equity markets rallying to record levels during the quarter, on expectations of an economic soft landing and interest rate cuts later in the year, said a news release May 2.
The Northern Trust universe tracks the performance of 405 large U.S. institutional investment plans, with a combined asset value of more than $1.4 trillion, that are Northern Trust asset servicing clients.
Meanwhile, the Northern Trust Foundation and Endowment Universe produced a 3.9% median return in the first quarter, while the Northern Trust Public Funds Universe median return was 3.5%; and the Northern Trust Corporate Universe median return was 1.2% for the quarter.
"The year started strong as global equity markets surged to new highs, showing investors were willing to take on added risk during the quarter," said John Turney, senior vice president and global head of total portfolio solutions, in the news release. "Gains from equities were partially offset in most institutional portfolios by allocations to fixed income, where rising yields led to negative returns and indicated caution about the future direction of interest rates."
In addition, the Northern Trust U.S. Equity Program Universe delivered a 9.6% median return for the first quarter. During the quarter, large-cap stocks outperformed small-cap stocks, with the Russell 2000 small-cap index returning 5.2%, well below the Russell 1000 large-cap index, which returned 10.3% for the period.
Also, the Northern Trust U.S. Fixed Income Program Universe median return was -0.2% for the quarter as the U.S. 10-year government bond yield rose to 4.21% from 3.88% during the quarter and the 2-year government bond yield rose 78 basis points to 4.59%.
As of March 31, Northern Trust had assets under custody/administration of $16.5 trillion, and assets under management of $1.5 trillion.
