Defined Benefits

A major credit rating agency has soured on the economic forecast for Illinois after another failed attempt this week to rectify the $96 billion pension system deficit.

A $1.8-billion Australian pension fund for pulp, paper and furniture workers has opted to pull out its holdings in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., citing desires for a more independent board of directors.

The nation's largest public employee retirement system managed to eke out a rather awful 0.14-percent net return on its investments in the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

Pension asset portfolios gained 9.3 percent in 2012, but declining discount rates drove the funded ratio of pension plans lower.

Near all-time-low interest rates are creating massive demand for pension bond issues that have offered some very strong yields to investors - and relief to retirees.

The Illinois House has adjourned its lame-duck session without taking action to solve the state's multibillion pension problem.