Pension Pulse

Thomas Franck of CNBC reports, A force is about to return to the stock market that could ‘chase equities higher’ : The largest public companies in the United States will continue to repurchase their own equity well into 2019 and goose the broader stock market higher, according to J.P. Morgan and Canaccord Genuity. It’s expected that S&P 500 companies will execute some $800 billion in buybacks and return an additional $500 billion through dividends in 2019, J.P. Morgan’s chief U.S. equity strategist, Dubravko Lakos-Bujas, told clients Friday . “Despite the recent market volatility, buyback activity has been very strong during the fourth quarter and we expect it to remain robust in 2019 given profit growth, lower valuation, and a record high $700 billion available to execute under existing authorizations,” Lakos-Bujas wrote in a note Friday . And while the J.P. Morgan strategist acknowledged a more attractive leverage spread, he added that the brokerage still expects the u...

David Long, the former CIO of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), posted an article on his blog which he submitted to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada in late December, Retirement Security Means a Wealthy Nation (added emphasis is mine): Enhancing Retirement Security for Canadians: A Wealthy Society Approach for Financial Security and a Stronger Nation. The Federal Government has committed to addressing and enhancing retirement security for all Canadians. This is an important goal, especially considering our aging population. The best way to enhance the financial security of Canadians in retirement is to create wealth to pay for the retirements that we all want and need . If we are to make progress towards creating a secure retirement for every Canadian, we need to consider all the tools that can be used, with particular attention on the things that currently enhance or hinder retirement security. These include: economic metrics; government poli...

The Investor Leadership Network (ILN), a G7 initiative, put out a press release, ILN, MDBs and SIF to accelerate collaboration on sustainable initiatives : Leaders from the Investor Leadership Network (ILN) and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) are pleased to announce the start of discussions to establish a partnership and accelerate their collaboration around ongoing ILN initiatives. After a productive meeting facilitated by the Sustainable Infrastructure Foundation (SIF) this morning in Davos, leaders of the private and public investment institutions are looking forward to seeing their increased collaboration fuel the momentum driving sustainable investment worldwide . Created in June 2018, under Canada’s presidency of the G7, ILN comprises a group of twelve leading institutional investors, representing over $6 trillion of assets under management working together to facilitate and accelerate collaboration on key issues related to sustainability and long-term growth. S...

Marilyn Haigh of CNBC reports, Billionaire hedge fund manager Klarman issues dire warning on global economy : Seth Klarman, a hedge fund billionaire some call the next Warren Buffett, wrote a sobering letter warning his investors of the economic impact of global tension, rising debt and pervasive political divide. “It can’t be business as usual amid constant protests, riots, shutdowns and escalating social tensions,” Klarman wrote in the annual letter to investors, according to a  New York Times  column filed by CNBC “Squawk Box” co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin . The letter caused buzz during the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland . In the letter, Klarman expressed confusion at investors’ reaction to the U.S. retreat from international leadership and President Donald Trump’s Twitter outbursts. Trump scrapped plans to attend Davos due to the government shutdown, which is in its 32nd day with no clear end in sight . “As the post-World Wa...

Private Capital Journal reports, CPPIB co-invests with Insight’s US $500 investment in Veeam : Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has invested an undisclosed amount in Veeam® Software as co-investor to Insight Venture Partners which invested US $500 million in the company. Insight Venture Partners’ Managing Director, Michael Triplett, will join Veeam’s board of directors. Founded by CEO Andrei Baronov and EVP Ratmir Timashev, Baar, Switzerland based Veeam is the global leader in Intelligent Data Management . Veeam Availability Platform is a complete solution to help customers on the journey to automating data management and ensuring the Availability of data . News Release Major Investment to Accelerate Next Phase of Company’s Growth and Underscores Veeam’s No.1 Position in the Rapidly Expanding Data Management Market BAAR, Switzerland: January 16, 2019: Veeam® Software, the leader in Backup solutions that enable Intelligent Data Management™, today announced tha...