Indeed, the percentage of pension - plan assets invested in stocks dropped from 60 percent to 55 percent during 2007, representing a shift of almost $ 60 billion worth of plan assets from equities into fixed - income and other investments, according to the firm's study of the 100 U.S. public companies with the biggest defined - benefit
pension assets whose 2007 annual report was released by March 15, 2008.
The life - savers are
pension funds,
whose demand for long - term fixed income
assets could reach record levels this year - and, counterintuitively, it's the surge in world equity markets that will play a large part in fuelling this appetite.