Pension Pulse

Paula Sambo of Bloomberg News reports that Canada's largest pension says inflation could rise in a rebound: Canada’s largest pension fund says policy measures across the globe to address the Covid-19 pandemic could fuel inflation after years of under-inflation while also spurring a rebound in employment and business investment. “We’re keeping an eye on this because central banks have adjusted frameworks,” Mark Machin, chief executive officer of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said in an interview Tuesday. “There is also the risk of a wall of money in savings accounts -- $13 trillion in U.S. banks alone -- moving, and that transfer can cause inflation.” Machin also sees the synchronized global economic upswing potentially creating further upward price pressure on commodities. “Emerging markets are where you’re going to see a massive pickup in demand. And we’re very familiar with the infrastructure bottlenecks that exists and some economies’, especial...

Michael Ryder, Senior Managing Director at OMERS Infrastructure recently wrote a comment on LinkedIn going over their year in review: When the year began, no one could have foreseen that our lives would be disrupted by a global pandemic that would wreak havoc on our communities and force businesses to adapt and respond to a series of extraordinary challenges. Through it all, I’ve been impressed by the resilience and agility displayed by my colleagues at OMERS and by our portfolio management teams as we’ve navigated this crisis together. Reflecting on the year, I’m particularly proud of the way our portfolio companies rose to the occasion with solutions to support our communities. For example, LifeLabs, the leading provider of community laboratory services in Canada, coordinated with government partners to add critical COVID-19 testing capacity. Bruce Power, one of the largest nuclear power plants in the world, produced isotopes to sterilize medical equipment and provided ...

Fred Imbert and Yun Li of CNBC report the S&P 500 falls for a third straight day to close out losing week as stimulus uncertainty remains: The S&P 500 fell on Friday, wrapping up a losing week, as the outlook for additional fiscal stimulus remained uncertain. The broader market index pulled back by 0.1% to close at 3,683.46, and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.2% to 12,377.87. The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a gain of 47.11 points, or 0.2%, to 30,046.37 as shares of Disney rallied. Both the Dow and S&P 500 posted their first weekly declines in three weeks, losing 0.6% and 1%, respectively. The Nasdaq dropped 0.7% this week. Friday’s moves came as negotiations over a coronavirus relief deal dragged on. Lawmakers seek to pass a bill before the end of 2020, but disagreements over state and local stimulus, unemployment assistance and stimulus checks still exist. “Optimism surrounding a near-term fiscal stimulus deal are fading despite reports of a bipartisan de...

This is the last part of a seven part series on integrated Total Fund Management brought to you by Mihail Garchev, the former VP and Head of Total Fund Management at BCI and I. Please take the time to read Mihail's synopsis on envisioning the Canadian model 2.0 below followed by my brief comments and a clip where he delves deeply into today's topic (added emphasis is mine): This is now our last week of the Introduction to Integrated Total Fund Management ("TFM") executive series. At the beginning of the series, we discussed some of the organizational and investment beliefs behind the increased interest in TFM and the corresponding organizational and investment strategies and objectives to support these beliefs. With Episode 6 last week , we concluded the TFM implementation topic, which included a closer look at the TFM framework, process, and what is required to turn these into a capability. In the process, we also looked at 11 engaging case studies to illust...