Since 2022 was “historically difficult,” people think 2023 will be the same
is in charge of the public pension fund in Quebec.Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec,reported a loss of 5.6% in 2022, which was a year in which both the stock and bond markets went down.
As of December 31, net assets fell by $18 billion, to a total of $402 billion, according to results released Thursday.
President and CEO Charles Emond said that the first half of the year was the worst time for both the stock and bond markets to go down at the same time in the last 50 years.
“Despite the fact that investors didn’t have many places to hide, all of our asset categories were able to do better than their indexes.”
In the past, bonds have helped protect a diversified portfolio against drops in the stock market. However, the number of interest rate hikes made the bond market go down last year.
The Caisse said that the loss of 5.6% is better than the loss of 8.3% in its benchmark portfolio.
The Caisse had an average return of 5.8% per year over a period of five years. The average return over 10 years was 8% per year.
In 2022, the Caisse will make new investments in Quebec worth $4 billion. Its assets in Quebec were worth a total of $78.4 billion. In December, Emond set a new goal: by 2026, Quebec’s assets should be worth $100 billion.
As of December 31, the total cost of internal and external investment management went down from 0.57 percent to 48 cents per $100 of average net assets, or 0.48 percent.
Cool on cryptocurrencie
Emond predicted that things would get harder for stock markets. He said that rates will have to go up a bit more to keep inflation in check and that the economy will slow down.
“I had said that 2022 would be a tough year for history. “Not much will change in the year 2023.”
Vincent Delisle, the senior vice president and head of liquid markets, said that investors are still holding out hope that central banks will calm down. He said that the market isn’t ready to take the hard pill that the central banks are offering, and there’s a chance that the market will be a little let down.
Emond also said that after its mistake with the Celsius Network, the Caisse has given up on cryptocurrencies. The $200 million that was put into a cryptocurrency interest and loan platform in 2021 was gone in less than a year.
When asked how the Caisse will handle cryptocurrency risks in the future, Emond said, “We won’t do that again.”
He also said that the Caisse has taken its platform to court for giving “false and misleading information” about its finances.