Median Total Master Trust Return Continues Positive Performance for Third Straight Quarter in Q3 2019 According to BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe/BNY Mellon Asset Strategy View®

NEW YORK, Nov. 13, 2019

The BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe offers peer comparisons of performance by plan type and size. It consists of 502 corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley, and health care plans with a total market value of more than $2.2 trillion and an average plan size of over $7.2 billion. In aggregate, U.S. Master Trust Universe plans reported a one-year return of 5.91%, lagging its 3-year annualized return of +7.91% and  5-year annualized return of +5.94%.  

For the fourth quarter in a row, corporate plans outperformed, as public market investment allocations continued to outperform allocations to alternatives. Endowment performance continued to lag other plan types due to having the largest allocation to alternatives.

"Corporate pensions have more long duration fixed income than other types of investors as a result of their pension obligations. This quarter, the corporate pension fixed income assets outperformed the total universe fixed income composites by over 200 bps. Corporate pensions also benefited from relatively higher allocations to US equities relative to non-U.S. equities," said Frances Barney, CFA, Head of Global Risk Solutions at BNY Mellon.

Additional Q3 Highlights

• Less than 8% of plans posted negative results during the quarter
• Corporate Plans saw the highest median return (+2.63%), followed by Healthcare Plans (+1.10%)
• U.S. equities posted a quarterly median return of +0.75%, versus the Russell 3000 Index return of +1.16%. Non-U.S. equities saw a median return of -1.49%, compared to the FTSE Developed ex U.S. Net Index result of -0.95%. U.S. fixed income had a median return of +2.13%, versus the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index return of +2.27%. Non-U.S. fixed income had a median return of +0.02%, versus the FTSE World Government Bond Non-US Index return of -0.11%. Real estate had a median return of +1.32%, versus the NCREIF Property Index result of +1.41%.

BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe users are now able to take advantage of BNY Mellon Asset Strategy View^® as a separate service for additional analysis. BNY Mellon Asset Strategy View layers big data analytics onto detailed asset allocation, performance, and cash flow data for the majority of the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe. It provides additional insight into underlying market trends and investor activity.