The funded status of pension funds slipped for the first time in nine months.

The funded status of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan in May fell 2.3 percentage points to 86.9 percent, according to monthly statistics published by BNY Mellon Asset Management. This also erased nearly half of the gains achieved since the beginning of the year.    

The funded status of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan in April rose 0.7 percentage points to 89.2 percent, the eighth consecutive month of improvement, according to monthly statistics published by BNY Mellon Asset Management.    

The funding ratio for the typical corporate plan has improved 4.9 percentage points since the beginning of the year.

Follow the bouncing stock market.

The funded status of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan in March climbed only slightly last month, by 0.5 percentage points to 88.5 percent, according to BNY Mellon Asset Management.

The surging stock market rally not only is repairing personal balance sheets and 401(k) accounts. It is also defusing the corporate pension crisis.

The funded status of the typical US corporate pension plan in February rose 0.4 percentage points to 88 percent, according to monthly statistics published by BNY Mellon Asset Management.    

Corporate taxes may finally be receiving the attention it deserves.

The decision by Illinois to raise its personal income tax rate to 5 percent from 3 percent, and its business income taxes to 9.5 percent from 7.3 percent led New Jersey governor Chris Christie to appeal to Illinois businesses to move east to the Garden State.

Pension plans' funding status improved again last month as stocks and interest rates continued to climb.

The typical US corporate pension plan in November saw its status inch up to 80.5 percent from 80.3 percent the prior month, according to monthly statistics published by BNY Mellon Asset Management.    

Assets for the typical plan declined 0.4 percent. A slight gain of 0.6 percent in the US equity markets was offset by a drop of 4.8 percent in international stocks, according to the BNY Mellon.

In a somewhat unusual deal involving two of the handful of global hedge fund firms that are publicly-traded, London's Man Group plc is buying London-based GLG Partners for about $1.6 billion, resulting in a money management firm with about $63 billion under management.

Under the terms of the deal, GLG's shareholders will receive $4.50 per share in cash.

Bloomberg News reported on Monday that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is encouraging public pension funds to inject capital directly into the banking system by buying failed banks.

On the surface, this feels like the act of one troubled, somewhat desperate government agency trying to take advantage of a troubled, somewhat desperate group of investors.

It's not at all clear how these investments would work. Pensions don't typically dabble in direct investments, though the success of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Fund could lead others to reexamine that strategy. And banking would be a somewhat strange place to start, especially in the current environment.