by DantesPeak » Thu 28 Feb 2008, 22:27:55
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'W')here does this train stop - $105?
Major retirement funds are just getting in as the price rings $100.
I think we've already started the new era where oil exporters realize they can earn more by withholding exports, and investors realize that if they don't want their retirement fund pummeled by the housing debacle they better get some natural resources - before the day comes they won't even be able to buy them.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')alpers to Boost Commodity Investments Through 2010 (Update3)
By Saijel Kishan
Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the largest U.S. pension fund, may increase its commodities investments 16-fold to $7.2 billion through 2010 as raw materials prices surge to records.
Calpers, which has about $240 billion in assets, agreed at a Feb. 19 board meeting to hold between 0.5 percent and 3 percent of its assets in commodities, spokesman Clark McKinley said. The Sacramento, California-based fund last year put $450 million into commodities, its first such investment.
The agreement is the fruit of Chief Investment Officer Russell Read's efforts since joining in 2006 to boost returns by shifting funds into raw materials and markets such as China and India. Oil has soared above $100 a barrel, wheat breached $13 a bushel for the first time, and gold and platinum climbed to the highest ever since Calpers began investing in commodities.
``We plan on ramping up the program by hiring additional staff,'' McKinley said by phone yesterday. ``We are excited about commodities, which have performed exceptionally well for us.''
``Strength in commodity markets will be something we should see generally over the next 10 to 20 years,'' Read, 44, said in an interview in April, a year after he moved to Calpers from Deutsche Asset Management.
``The actual importance of the energy and materials sector we believe is going to explode.'' Investors from hedge funds to housewives have been putting their money into commodities such as gold, silver, copper, wheat and energy to help cover losses on stock investments and make up for historically low Treasury yields. Public pension plans in the U.S. hold on average about 81 percent of the funds they need for future retiree benefits, down from 100 percent in 2000, according to a study by Standard & Poor's.
Last Updated: February 28, 2008 11:43 EST