For investors, 2011 is shaping up as a tough year. Some of the world's biggest pension funds, in Canada, the Netherlands and Switzerland, essentially went nowhere in the second quarter, as good results in fixed-income were offset by poor returns from turbulent equity markets.

Yesterday, the four biggest funds in the Netherlands published their second-quarter results, on the same day that RBC Dexia published its quarterly round-up of returns for Canadian pension funds.