The BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe had a median return of 1.94% for the first quarter of 2014, led by real estate gains, and 99.5% of all plans had positive results for the quarter.
The BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe is a fund-level tracking service consisting of 686 corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley, and health care plans, with a market value of over $2.6 trillion. For the 12 months ending March 31, 2014, the media plan is up 11.65%, largely as a result of strong performance from U.S. equities. And in addition to most plans achieving positive results, 51.5% matched or outperformed the custom policy return for Q1.
“Benefitting from a relative overweighting of U.S. equities, corporate plans outperformed other plan-types with a 2.59% gain in the first quarter,” says John Houser, senior consultant for BNY Mellon’s Global Risk Solutions group. “The difference between the highest and lowest performing plan was a healthy 104 basis points. By asset class, real estate led the way with a 3.07% quarterly gain, but all asset classes were in the black, helping plans across the board. Over the last 12 months, U.S. equities outperformed with a strong +22.91% return, while the U.S. bond segment was relatively flat at +0.07%.”
The average asset allocation in the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe for the first quarter was as follows: U.S. equity 26%, U.S. fixed income 26%, non-U.S. equity 17%, non-U.S. fixed income 2%, real estate 4%, cash 1%, and alternatives/other 24%.
From the fourth quarter of 2013 to the end of the first quarter in 2014, median allocation to U.S. equities dropped from 28% to 26%, while U.S. fixed income allocation rose from 24% to 26% during the same period.
BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe Has Positive Q1
The BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe had a median return of 1.94% for the first quarter of 2014, led by real estate gains, and 99.5% of all plans had positive results for the quarter.