2007 Positive for Institutional Plans, Despite Negative Q4

According to a Mercer press release, on a one-year basis, corporate plans had average gains of 8.1%, while public plans and foundation/endowment plans earned 8.3% and 10.2%, respectively. Over a 10-year time frame, all three plan types have averaged between 7.7% and 8.6% on an annualized basis.

For the fourth quarter, the median corporate plan had a loss of 0.7%. Public plans and foundation/ endowment funds lost 0.8% and 0.2% during the quarter, respectively, the press release said.

By asset type, according to Mercer’s analysis, both value and growth managers produced negative results during the fourth quarter, with the median large cap growth manager outperforming its value-oriented counterparts by 430 basis points. The median core large cap manager outperformed the S&P 500 Index during the fourth quarter by 70 basis points.

The median core large cap manager outperformed its small cap counterpart by 310 basis points over the current quarter, losing 2.6% while the median core small cap manager lost 5.7%.

The international equity asset class, as represented by the MSCI EAFE Index, lost 1.8%, outperforming the S&P 500 Index for the quarter by a margin of 150 basis points. Local stock market returns were negative but a weakening U.S. dollar softened the overall loss, Mercer said. Within the international asset class, the median growth manager outperformed its value counterpart by 230 basis points.

The median core fixed income manager underperformed the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Index in the fourth quarter by 40 basis points.

The median core opportunistic manager underperformed the performance of the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Index during the quarter by 80 basis points, and the median high-yield manager posted a loss of 0.8% for the quarter.

Within international fixed income, the median non-US and global manager had a quarterly gain of 3.3%.

Summary Performance of US Institutional Portfolios may be downloaded free of charge at  www.mercer.com .