NISA Pension Risk Surplus index continues to trend lower

NISA Investment Advisors' Pension Surplus Risk index fell to 5.8% on Oct. 31, from 6.1% a month earlier. The month marked the second consecutive decline for the index, which has seen above average volatility this year. The average plan funded status rose to 89.4% from 88.8% in September.

The average funded status reached 92% in April as markets surged in the first third of 2019, its highest mark since September 2008.

The volatility of the index's asset component fell 0.5 percentage points to 7.5%, while the volatility of the liability component fell to 6.4% from 7.1%.

NISA Investment Advisors' index represents an expected rise or fall in assets given a one-standard deviation change in returns in a given year. The index constituents consist of the 100 largest publicly traded corporate pension plans as measured by pension benefit obligation. As of Dec. 31, the total plan liabilities of the constituent base were $1.3 trillion, with $1.2 trillion in total plan assets, the most recent data available.