U.S. Public Pension Assets Dipped in 3rd Quarter: Census Bureau

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions, which surveys the assets and allocation of the 100 largest public pension systems in the United States.

The most recent iteration of the survey was released last week, and found that the funds’ assets had declined by 5 percent in the 3^rd quarter of 2015. Details from CNBC:

Public pension assets dipped in the third-quarter as increasing exposure to corporate bonds was offset by a decline in international holdings.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data published on Wednesday, the holdings of the largest 100 U.S. public pension systems dropped 4.9 percent to $3.2 trillion because of negative earnings.

Earnings fell from a gain of $32.6 billion in the second quarter of 2015 to a loss of $145.9 billion in the third. Total holdings were also 2.5 percent lower than the same quarter last year.

Corporate stocks, which comprise more than a third of major public pension holdings, fell almost 5 percent while corporate bonds only rose by 1 percent in the third-quarter. International and federal government securities also dipped in the same period.

Access the survey results here.