The aggregate funded ratio for US corporate pension plans increased by 1.8 percentage points to end the month of February at 88.8 per cent, according to Wilshire Consulting.
The monthly change in funding resulted from a 1.2 per cent increase in asset values and a 0.9 per cent decrease in liability values. The aggregate funded ratio is up 4.3 percentage points year-to-date, erasing nearly all of the funding ground lost in December and returning to slightly positive territory over the trailing twelve months.
“February’s continued improvement in funded ratios was driven by the strongest first two calendar month returns for the Wilshire 5000 in 32 years,” says Ned McGuire (pictured), Managing Director and a member of the Pension Risk Solutions Group of Wilshire Consulting. “February’s 1.8 percentage point increase in funding was the eighth increase over the past 12 months,” he adds.
