Assets of major public pension funds fell 8.5% in third quarter

It is no surprise that pension funds in the US are significantly underfunded (median 72% funded). California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CALPERS), specifically, is about 26% short of meeting its long-term commitments. Like most major pension funds, it uses smoke-and-mirrors to avoid this yawning gap by smoothing over a long enough timeframe where 'hope' for growth in assets triumphs over the reality of liabilities (through a 'rolling' 15- or 30-year window - that therefore never comes due).

Rhino Resource Partners, L.P. (RNO) stock plummeted 38.6% during extended trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The stock hit a new 52-week low of $7.30 after the Lexington, Kentucky-based company announced 88% drop in its quarterly distribution, from $0.445 per common share to $0.05 per common share.  The company plans to announce third-quarter results on October 30.

News that the UK did manage to eke out a little growth will give George Osborne some respite in the build up to his Budget following last week’s decision by Moody’s credit rating agency to strip the country of its prized AAA status. In its second estimate of GDP for the final three months of last year, the Office for National Statistics revealed that it had revised its growth calculations for earlier in 2012.

Coach, Inc.’s (COH) profits plummeted 20% and it once again failed to meet revenue expectations for its third quarter of fiscal 2014 (3QFY14; ended on May 29, 2014).

Things are getting rather interesting in the Netherlands as low interest rates have increased pension deficit liabilities. Unlike the US and other parts of Europe where deficits are ignored, Dutch law requires 105% funding and the plans fell from 152% funded in 2007 to 102% funded today. This has forced pension plans to cut benefits by as much as 7% for some trades. As might be expected, this has given rise to a 50 Plus Party, which won election to the Dutch parliament for the first time last year on promises to defend the interests of pensioners.

WASHINGTON — After more than a century, the U.S. Census Bureau is dropping its use of the word “Negro” to describe black Americans in surveys. Instead of the term that came into use during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation, census forms will use the more modern labels “black” or “African-American”.