Newsmakers
Arizona PSPRS Gets a New CIO
Mark Steed will run the $9.8 billion pension system, replacing the newly retired Ryan Parham.
News Archive: Oct - 2018
Storm Impact May Mute September Job Report, but Not Trade War
Economists’ consensus calls for a 168,000 gain in employment, more tepid than the current trend.
UN Launches Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge
Initiative calls on finance industry to tackle ‘tobacco epidemic.’
Alaska Permanent Fund Announces New CIO
Marcus Frampton will take over from Russell Read, who departed the $64.9 billion sovereign wealth fund in July.
Risk
Harvard Endowment Returns 10% in 2018
Improved performance still lags other major universities.
Risk
Africa’s Largest Pension Fund Returns 8.6%
The Public Investment Corp. approaches $150 billion.
Optimistic Republicans Bought Stocks, Democrats Didn’t, to Their Regret
MIT study shows how reaction to the 2016 presidential election shaped investing along partisan lines.
CalPERS Names 12 Firms not to Divest over Iran, Sudan
Investment committee research finds companies don’t meet divestment threshold
Newsmakers
Tesla Comes Out on Top Despite SEC Suit, Musk’s Board Resignation
The SEC Twitter scandal looked like a nail in Tesla’s coffin, but a swift settlement surged shares and will see the automaker remain CEO at the expense of his chairman gig and a $40 million payment.
CalPERS to Review Whether International Stock Holdings Should Be Reduced
A decade ago, the largest US pension plan decided to abandon its home country bias favoring US stocks. Now, pension officials wonder if it was the right move as US stock performance has shined.
Market Moves
FTSE Russell to Add China A-Shares to Global Indexes
Move expected to bring initial passive inflows of $10 billion.
Risk
NJ Pension Fund Returns 9.06% in Fiscal 2018
Solid returns raise fund’s total market value to $78.2 billion.
Report: Trustees Leading Public Pension Funds Astray
Unaligned incentives of board members are being blamed for state pension funds’ financial woes.