Pension Funds get some help as yields begin to rise
It’s been a stressful year for pension fund trustees and sovereign wealth fund managers. Heading into 2016, it looked as if the US Federal Reserve was getting ready to increase rates several times during the year, which many managers hoped would drag discount rates higher, lowering pension fund deficits and improving returns on assets. Unfortunately, by the middle of the year trustees’ worst nightmare was unfolding as bond yields plunged around the world and the yields on more than $13 trillion of high rated debt collapsed into negative territory.
