US Treasury yield curve flattening to intensify with US pension plan bond-buying

Corporate pensions are shifting a chunk of their $1.55 trillion in assets into fixed income, which may be sizeable enough to flatten the yield curve further. The funding gap, between what corporations owe in pension plan obligations and their assets, narrowed by $72.4 billion last year as the US stock market rallied and companies from Boeing Co to Verizon Communications Inc made multi-billion dollar contributions, according to a new study by Seattle-based consultants, Milliman. But as funding improves, pensions reduce their...