By Ben Fox Rubin
The funded status of the average U.S. corporate pension plan
improved 1.7 percentage points last month to 92.6%, helped by most
asset classes rising in February, according to the BNY Mellon
Investment Strategy & Solutions Group.
However, year-to-date the funded status for the plans remains
down 2.6 percentage points, following declining markets in
January.
"The financial status of pensions, endowments and foundations in
February recovered a significant amount of the ground they lost in
January as most asset classes recovered," said Andrew D. Wozniak,
director of the group, which is a division of Bank of New York
Mellon Corp. (BK). "Concerns about global growth fundamentals that
had surfaced in January appeared to abate somewhat in
February."
He added commodities were the best performing asset class last
month, rising 6.2%. BNY Mellon attributed the growth in commodities
to unusual weather conditions in the U.S. and abroad, setting off
concerns about potential grain shortages. It added that the
strength of commodity markets should lessen as weather
normalizes.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@wsj.com
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