Median Total Master Trust Return Continues Positive Performance for Second Straight Quarter in Q2 2019 According to BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe/BNY Mellon Asset Strategy View®

PR Newswire

NEW YORK, Aug. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe returned a median +3.45% in the second quarter of 2019, continuing the trend of positive performance established in the first quarter.

The BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe offers peer comparisons of performance by plan type and size. It consists of 493 corporate, foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley, and health care plans with a total market value of more than $2.1 trillion and an average plan size of over $7.0 billion. In aggregate, U.S. Master Trust Universe plans reported a one-year return of 7.09%, lagging its 3-year annualized return of +8.77% and outperforming the 5-year annualized return of +5.94%.

For the third quarter in a row, corporate plans outperformed, as public market investment allocations continued to outperform allocations to alternatives. For the second consecutive quarter endowments underperformed other plan types; due to having the largest allocation to alternatives.

"Corporate pension returns this quarter were aided by their higher allocations to traditional equity and fixed income relative to alternatives, similar to the previous quarter. This time, however, within their fixed income allocation, the long duration bias also helped corporate pensions, because long duration strategies outperformed broad US fixed income," said Frances Barney, CFA, Head of Global Risk Solutions at BNY Mellon.

Additional Q4 Highlights

Less than 1% of plans posted negative results during the quarter
Corporate Plans saw the highest median return (+4.23%), followed by Healthcare Plans (+3.79%)
U.S. equities posted a quarterly median return of +3.79%, versus the Russell 3000 Index return of +4.10%. Non-U.S. equities saw a median return of +3.06%, compared to the FTSE Developed x U.S. Net Index result of +3.39%. U.S. fixed income had a median return of +3.04%, versus the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index return of +3.08%. Non-U.S. fixed income had a median return of +3.49%, versus the FTSE World Government Bond Non-US Index return of +3.93%. Real estate had a median return of +1.68%, versus the NCREIF Property Index result of +1.80%.

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.

BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe Median Plan Returns*
Period Ending June 30, 2019

Universe	Number of Participants	2Q 2019	One- Year	Five- Years	Ten- Years
Master Trust Total Fund	514	3.45	7.09	5.94	9.10
Corporate Plans	216	4.23	9.01	6.24	9.53
Foundations	75	2.99	5.49	5.32	8.53
Endowments	65	2.92	6.14	5.61	8.57
Public Plans	87	3.31	6.39	6.02	9.38
Taft-Hartley Plans	23	3.18	5.86	5.57	8.63
Health Care Plans	20	3.79	7.85	5.50	-

*All returns are posted gross of fee results.

BNY Mellon Asset Allocation Medians of those invested by Asset Class
Period Ending June 30, 2019

Asset Class	Q2 2019	One Year Ago	Three Years Ago	Five Years Ago
US Equity	22%	23%	22%	24%
Non-US Equity	14%	15%	15%	15%
Global Equity	6%	5%	5%	5%
US Fixed Income	23%	21%	21%	21%
Global Fixed Income	2%	3%	3%	4%
Non-US Fixed Income	2%	2%	2%	3%
TIPS/Inflation Linked Bonds	3%	3%	4%	3%
Real Estate	5%	5%	6%	5%
Private Equity	9%	8%	9%	8%
Other Real Assets	2%	3%	3%	4%
Hedge Funds	12%	13%	15%	15%
Cash	1%	1%	1%	1%

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 June 30, 2019, BNY Mellon had $35.5 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.8 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.

Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index
© Barclays Bank PLC 2016. This data is provided by Barclays Bank PLC all rights are reserved.

FTSE Non-US World Government Bond, FTSE Developed x US Index, Russell 3000 Index:
Source: London Stock Exchange Group plc and its group undertakings (collectively, the "LSE Group"). © LSE Group 2019. FTSE Russell is a trading name of certain of the LSE Group companies. "FTSE®" "Russell®", are trade mark(s) of the relevant LSE Group companies and is/are used by any other LSE Group company under license. All rights in the FTSE Russell indexes or data vest in the relevant LSE Group company which owns the index or the data. Neither LSE Group nor its licensors accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the indexes or data and no party may rely on any indexes or data contained in this communication. No further distribution of data from the LSE Group is permitted without the relevant LSE Group company's express written consent.