Third-quarter losses in the market resulted ininstitutional asset owners, including ERISA plans, losing a medianof 4.6 percent in value.

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Northern Trust Universe data tracked the performance of about300 large U.S. institutional investment plans with a combined assetvalue of approximately $899 billion that subscribe to performancemeasurement services as part of Northern Trust’s asset servicingofferings.

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While in the second quarter there was a median gain of 0.2percent, the third quarter was rough.

Data indicated that corporate ERISA plans actually did the best,relatively speaking, among plan types during Q3; they only lost 3.9percent at the median.

Foundations and endowments lost 4.7 percent, while public fundslost 4.9 percent.

Those corporate ERISA plans had a bad second quarter, duringwhich they were the worst performers; the third quarter was adistinct improvement for them. All plan types, according to thedata, had a median decline of at least 2 percentage points comparedto the prior quarter.

Northern Trust said that since 1998, Q3 has averaged a -0.25percent return.

The most recent third-quarter return of -4.6 percent ranks inthe all-time bottom quartile for third-quarter returns as measuredby Northern Trust Universe data.

“Having the smallest exposure to equities was a key factorbehind the relative outperformance of corporate ERISA plans,” BillFrieske, senior investment performance consultant, Northern TrustInvestment Risk & Analytical Services, said in a statement.

Frieske added, “Another factor helping corporate ERISA plans wasthe longer duration of their fixed-income programs. Corporatepension plans generally have been lengthening the duration of theirfixed-income programs while at the same time adding dollars to theallocation relative to public funds and foundations and endowments.The third quarter saw interest rates decline, pushing up returnsfor long-duration bonds.”

In Q3 asset allocation, corporate pension plans continued tode-risk by moving from equity to fixed-income investments.

Public funds continued to move money into private equity andinternational equity, boosting the median allocation for privateequity from last December’s 1.6 percent to a current level of 5.8percent.

Foundations and endowments cut their fixed-income allocationfrom 16 percent to 11 percent, while continuing to allocate tohedge funds and private equity.