Rising equity markets boosted the funded status of typical U.S. pension plans by 2.4 percent in September, according to BNY Mellon Asset Management. The asset management group, which tracks the health of the pension plans through its BNY Mellon Pension Liability Indexes, reported that assets of a moderate risk pension portfolio increased 2.6 percent in September, far outpacing the 0.2 percent rise in a typical plan's liabilities.