This past Thanksgiving, it seems DB plan sponsors were just thankful to get through November. New
This adds to losses of $110 billion in October and $100 billion in the first three quarters of 2008, turning a surplus of $60 billion at the end of 2007 into a deficit of $280 billion at the end of November.
The study covered plans sponsored by companies in the S&P 1500, and showed the aggregate funded status fell from 104% at the end of 2007 to 97% at the end of September, and dropped further to 80% at the end of November. Mercer´s analysis also shows that without a significant increase in high-quality corporate bond yields -- used by most companies to measure the value of plan liabilities -- the losses would have been worse.