For the 100 largest retirement systems in the country, the third quarter of 2009 marked the highest value of total cash and security holdings in a year; with an increase of 9.0 percent from $2,198.4 billion in the second quarter of 2009 to $2,396.9 billion in the third quarter of 2009. Total cash and security holdings continue to be lower than the same quarter 1 year ago (2008:Q3) but at a smaller rate: –7.0 percent compared with –21.9 percent for the second quarter (2009:Q2/2008:Q2) and –25.5 percent for the first quarter (2009:Q1/2008:Q1).