NISA Pension Surplus Risk index rises in November

The NISA Pension Surplus Risk index rose to 6.1% during November, up from 5.8% in October, as the average plan funding ratio rose 0.8 percentage points to 90.2% from the month before. The increase in the index was driven by increases in both the asset and liability components. The asset component rose a modest 0.2 percentage points as global equities rose 2.3% (MSCI ACWI index) while the liability component rose 0.7 percentage points. The average yield on high-grade 10-year corporate bonds rose to 2.63% from 2.58%.

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.