Industry News

On June 27, 2019, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that total holdings and investments for the 100 largest state and local government retirement systems increased 6.2% from approximately $3.6 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018 to $3.8 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2019.  Compared to the first quarter in 2018, assets increased 1.8% from $3.8 trillion.  The primary driver of the increase was due to gains on investments, which totaled $230.9 billion during the first quarter of 2019. 

​During the first quarter of 2019, holdings and investments in corporate stocks increased 11.1% from $1,242 billion to $1,381 billion, corporate bonds increased 5.6% to $413 billion, international securities increased 4.1% to $697 billion, federal government securities increased 8.7% to $424 billion, and cash and short-term investments increased 6.4% to $112.1 billion.

The results are from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions which surveys the revenues, expenditures, and composition of assets for the 100 largest U.S. public employee retirement systems.  These systems comprise 88% of the total cash and security holdings reported for public plans in the 2012 Census of Governments.  The report also provides a table showing the quarterly changes in contributions, benefits and investment earnings from the second quarter of 2016 to the first quarter of 2019.  

The summary is available here.