Pension Pulse

Grace O'Donnell , David Hollerith and Ines Ferré of Yahoo Finance report the Nasdaq, Dow, S&P 500 clobbered as October closes with brutal sell-off: US stocks plunged in the final trading day of the month as earnings from Amazon ( AMZN ) and Alphabet ( GOOG , GOOGL ) this week rekindled concerns about the amount of money Big Tech is spending on its AI ambitions. The Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC ) tumbled 2.8% as a tech-fueled sell-off intensified. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI ) fell 1.2%, or over 650 points, while the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) dropped 2%. For the month, the Dow gained 1.5%, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 gave up gains, falling 5.2% and 1.2%, respectively. October marked the worst month for the Nasdaq since March 2025. Stocks fell for the second day in a row after Amazon and Alphabet posted rare earnings misses , renewing concerns about the sustainability of the AI boom. Amazon shares fell 2%, while Alphabet continued to erase market valu...

Sam Fenwick of Telco Magazine reports  BCE sells a 49.9% stake in Bell’s tower assets to La Caisse: Mirko Bibic, President and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada, will use the US$1.74bn from La Caisse to fund AI growth and reduce debt Bell Canada is selling a 49.9% stake in a newly formed wireless tower infrastructure company to global investment group La Caisse for CAD2.45bn (US$1.74bn). The new entity, dubbed TowerCo (its final name will be announced at transaction close), is valued at around CAD4.91bn (US$3.49bn) and, according to BCE, will become Canada's largest dedicated tower company with more than 5,000 sites. BCE, Bell Canada's parent company, expects the deal to close in Q1 2027, provided it receives the necessary regulatory approvals and satisfies other customary closing conditions. TowerCo will lease capacity on the transferred towers back to Bell and will focus on growth through new site builds, site densification and third-party colocation. Bell will retain a 50.1% cont...

Jonalyn Cueto of Benefits and Pensions Monitor reports  OMERS expands in Australian private credit and Dutch energy infrastructure: OMERS has agreed to buy an indirect minority stake in Australian lender La Trobe Financial and helped complete a €662 million Dutch refinancing. The Ontario pension plan announced the two deals this week. It held C$151.6 billion in net assets as of June 30. A stake in Australian private credit Brookfield said OMERS will acquire an indirect minority interest in La Trobe through a Brookfield private equity vehicle. Neither the size nor the price of the stake was disclosed. Brookfield keeps majority ownership. ...