The continuation of a sell-off in bonds and a recent increase in the benchmark corporate bond interest rates used to value pension liabilities led to a $47 billion improvement in funded status for the 100 largest U.S. defined benefit pension plans tracked by the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index (PFI). Declines in the equity and fixed income markets led to a reduction in plan assets in June. The funded ratio of the PFI rose to 88.3%, from 86.0% at the end of May. Pension liabilities were down by $72 billion during June, resulting in a drop in the Milliman 100 PFI value, to $1.538 trillion from $1.610 trillion at the end of May.