SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 6, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Despite a lackluster second quarter, institutional investors showed positive double digit one-and three-year returns, according to the Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service® (Wilshire TUCS®), a cooperative effort between Wilshire Analytics, the investment technology unit of Wilshire Associates Incorporated (Wilshire®), and custodial organizations. With more than 1,700 plans and in excess of $3.46 trillion in assets, Wilshire TUCS is not only one of the world's largest, but is also considered the most widely accepted benchmark for the performance and allocation of institutional assets in North America.
"The second quarter performance for median plan return types was mixed with a high return of 0.38 percent for Taft Hartley Defined Benefit plans and a low return of -0.75 percent for large Corporate plans," stated Robert J. Waid, managing director, Wilshire Associates. "The median quarterly return for all plans was down for the first time since the second quarter of 2012 coming in at -0.06 percent," he added.
"With most of the asset classes being down for the quarter, most of the performance differences primarily can be attributed to different exposures to the U.S. equity market," noted Waid. "Though the Wilshire 5000® closed the quarter with its first losing month since October 2012, it still set 13 more all-time-highs, resulting in a quarterly return of 2.77 percent, while the median U.S. equity plan return was 2.42 percent. The Barclays U.S. Aggregate followed up its first quarterly decline since 2006 with a -2.32 percent return. The median U.S. fixed income plan nearly return mirrored that with a performance of -2.28 percent."
With international equity falling, all measured plan types again underperformed the simple 60/40 (U.S. Equity/ U.S. Bond) default asset allocation for the quarter.
A chart of Wilshire TUCS Plan Returns versus 60/40 for the second quarter 2013 is available at http://media.globenewswire.com/cache/31/file/21278.pdf
The median ten-year return moved back below 8.0 percent for all plans to 6.92 percent. Only the large Foundations and Endowments (with assets greater than $500 million) maintained ten-year median returns above 8.0 percent with median plan returns of 8.35 percent.
About Wilshire Associates
Wilshire Associates, a leading global, independent investment consulting and services firm, provides consulting services, analytics solutions and customized investment products to plan sponsors, investment managers and financial intermediaries. Its business units include, Wilshire Analytics, Wilshire Consulting, Wilshire Funds Management and Wilshire Private Markets.
The firm was founded in 1972, providing revolutionary technology and acting as an early innovator in the application of investment analytics and research to investment managers in the institutional marketplace. Wilshire also is credited with helping to develop the field of quantitative investment analysis that uses mathematical tools to analyze market risks. All other business units evolved from Wilshire's strong analytics foundation. Wilshire developed the Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM and became an early innovator in creating the industry's integrated asset/liability analysis/simulation models as well as the industry's practical models in risk budgeting through beta and active risk analysis. Wilshire has grown to a firm of more than 300 employees serving the investment needs of institutional clients around the world.
Based in Santa Monica, California, Wilshire provides services to clients in more than 20 countries representing more than 500 organizations with assets totaling approximately
US $7 trillion.* With ten offices on four continents, Wilshire Associates and its affiliates are dedicated to providing clients with the highest quality counsel, products and services. Wilshire®, Trust Universe Comparison Service®, TUCS® and Wilshire 5000® are registered service marks of Wilshire Associates Incorporated. Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM is a service mark of Wilshire Associates Incorporated. Please visit http://www.wilshire.com/.
*Assets are as of December 31, 2011, based on published data in the December 24, 2012 issue of Pensions and Investments.
