U.S Master Trust Universe Posts Negative Result Following Two Quarters of Positive Performance According to BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe/BNY Mellon Asset Strategy View®

The BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe returned a median -5.91% in the fourth quarter of 2018, returning to negative performance after positive performance for the two prior quarters.

The BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe offers peer comparisons of performance by plan type and size. It consists of 510 corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley, and health care plans with a total market value of more than $1.9 trillion and an average plan size of over $6.2 billion. In aggregate, U.S. Master Trust Universe plans reported a one-year return of -4.16%, lagging its 3-year annualized return of +6.13% and 5-year annualized return of +4.92%.  

Reversing the trend from the first three quarters of the year, corporate plans outperformed, due to higher fixed income and lower equity allocations than other plan types.

“Corporate Plans tend to have higher allocations to fixed income investments, consistent with their liability-aware investment objectives. This quarter, Corporate Plans over-weighted U.S. fixed income at 46% versus 27% for the Master Trust Universe as a whole. During a period when US fixed income outperformed equities by almost 12%, Corporate Plans lost less than other investors with higher equity allocations,” said Frances Barney, CFA, Head of Asset Owner Product Management and Global Risk Solutions at BNY Mellon.

Additional Q4 Highlights

• Less than 3% of plans posted positive results during the quarter.
• Corporate Plans saw the highest median return (-5.20%), followed by Endowments (-5.42%).
• U.S. equities posted a quarterly median return of -13.96%, versus the Russell 3000 Index return of -14.30%. Non-U.S. equities saw a median return of -11.71%, compared to the Russell Developed ex U.S. Large Cap Index result of -12.91%. U.S. fixed income had a median return of 0.62%, versus the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index return of 1.64%. Non-U.S. fixed income had a median return of -1.12%, versus the FTSE World Government Bond Non-US Index return of 1.31%. Real estate had a median return of +1.78%, versus the NCREIF Property Index result of +1.37%.

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. 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.

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About BNY Mellon
BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment management and investment services in 35 countries. As of December 31, 2018, BNY Mellon had US$33.1 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and US$1.7 trillion in assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com. Follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon or visit our newsroom at www.bnymellon.com/newsroom for the latest company news.

Russell 3000 Index; Russell Developed ex US Large Cap Index
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Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index
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