Pension Pulse

James Bradshaw of the Globe and Mail reports  AIMCo earned 7.5 per cent return last year as stocks propped up private assets: Alberta Investment Management Corp. aims to take advantage of pressure in private credit and infrastructure, positioning itself as a buyer when some fund managers sell off assets to raise cash. The Alberta-based pension fund manager made a 7.5-per-cent return last year as stocks did well and private assets struggled, according to a news release. The diverging performance of public and private markets was a key reason why AIMCo fell short of its internal benchmark by 2.7 percentage points. More than a third of its assets are private, but those portfolios are generally measured against stock indexes that surged in value last year. AIMCo’s balanced fund – which reflects a typical mix of assets held by its 17 core clients – earned 7.6 per cent in the year that ended Dec. 31, and missed its benchmark by the same margin. The balanced fund has an avera...

Kyle Duggan of The Canadian Press  reports  Canadian banks, pension funds have poured billions into ICE contractors: Major Canadian banks and pension funds provided tens of billions of dollars to American contractors for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, an investigation by the non-profit Stand.earth has found. The group’s analysis of loan and share data found Canadian financial institutions backed multiple companies that have major contracts with ICE to provide equipment or services, through investments, loans and bonds totalling about US$35 billion. The companies that benefited from those Canadian investments include: data analytics firm Palantir; major U.S. defence contractors General Dynamics and L3Harris; the IT firm CACI; and telecom giant AT&T. CoreCivic and Geo Group, which construct and manage detention centres, also benefited to a lesser extent. Palantir, founded by major Republican donor Peter Thiel, supplies technology to ICE th...

Sean Conlon and Sarah Min of CNBC report the Dow tumbles almost 800 points and enters correction, S&P 500 posts fifth straight losing week:  The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled on Friday. It fell into correction territory, while Brent topped $110 after incidents in the Strait of Hormuz exacerbated investors’ energy supply concerns. President Donald Trump’s latest comments failed to encourage traders to scoop up shares. The 30-stock Dow fell 793.47 points, or 1.73%, to close at 45,166.64. The S&P 500 lost 1.67% and ended the session at a seven-month low of 6,368.85. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.15% and settled at 20,948.36. The broad market index notched its fifth straight weekly decline, dropping 2.1% in the period. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 3.2% week to date, while the blue-chip Dow retreated nearly 1% for the week. Friday’s slip comes a day after the Nasdaq on Thursday fell into a correction and has moved almost 13% below its record set in October. ...

Michael Gorman of the CBC reports retired Nova Scotia civil servants call for more fairness in pension plan: The chair of the pension committee for the association representing retired Nova Scotia government employees is calling for changes to address hardships members are facing as inflation cuts into their buying power. Fred Morley told MLAs on the legislature’s public bills committee on Monday that in the last 15 years members of the plan have seen retiree expenses increase by 40 per cent, while pensions have gone up by just 10 per cent. It translates to a cumulative loss of $27,000 in income and spending power, he said. Morley said there have been no increases in the last five years, despite a 20 per cent increase in prices and the highest inflation in the last 50 years. “Inflation has dramatically eroded the purchasing power of our members,” he said. 'A lot of repercussions' In an interview after his presentation, Morley said the situation is forcing members, w...