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Are Corporate Pension Plan Assets In Rough Waters? It's Difficult To Tell May 08
Standard & Poors, May 2008
Abstract
By many accounts, corporate pension plans enjoyed a reasonably healthy year in 2007. Solid investment returns and higher discount rates provided much of the tailwind to sail U.S. corporations' pension funding status into positive territory for the first time since 2001, meaning pensions now have more assets than obligations. However, the current market conditions could prove the present overfunding of these plans to be extremely short-lived, as present disclosures provide few indications on how asset portfolios will navigate through the current market turbulence. Global capital market weakness since the latter part of 2007, and the current dichotomy in having pension plan measurement dates that can differ from reported fiscal year-end dates, likely conceal more deterioration than what companies reported in...
Standard and Poors RatingsXpress Credit Research provides in-depth coverage of international corporates, financial institutions, insurance companies, utilities, sovereigns and structured finance programs. RatingsXpress Credit Research lets users determine the credit rating of holdings and identify key factors underlying an issuer's creditworthiness, distinguishes the different risk exposures for new and existing deals, and provides an understanding of how their analysts interpret key regulatory, political and environmental events and their economic impact.
Research Type: Commentary
Criteria articles describe the thought process and methodology Standard & Poor's analysts use in determining ratings. These commentary pieces discuss both the quantitative (economic and financial) and qualitative (business analysis and caliber of management) aspects of the analysis, as well as legal issues.
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