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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (30090)	2/28/2008 5:26:29 PM
From: Cogito Ergo Sum	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 217774

siliconinvestor.com Calpers to Boost Commodity Investments Through 2010 (Update2) siliconinvestor.com 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. Pension funds, hedge funds and other money managers are increasing investments in raw materials as energy, metals and agriculture assets outperform stocks and bonds. Oil has risen above $100 a barrel, wheat breached $13 a bushel for the first time, and gold and platinum climbed to the highest ever. ``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.'' The fund's commodity investments track the Standard & Poor's GSCI index of 24 commodities, which has returned 10 percent so far this year, adding to a 33 percent gain in 2007. In comparison, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index of stocks has fallen 6 percent this year, while U.S. Treasuries returned 2 percent, according to Merrill Lynch & Co. indexes. CIO Read Calpers, which covers the benefits of more than 1.5 million California state and local government employees, said in December that it planned to transfer about 11 percent of its portfolio from stocks and bonds into other assets including investments linked to inflation. ``The burgeoning demand for energy and materials is also creating numerous opportunities in each of our major asset classes for long-term investment, including our new inflation- linked asset class,'' Chief Investment Officer Russell Read said in a Feb 21. report to the Calpers board. The fund's commodity program will come under the inflation- linked asset class, McKinley said. Calpers will decide on the proportion of assets invested in commodities ``depending on market opportunities,'' he added. Calpers plans to allow its staff to actively manage some of its commodity investments this year, he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Saijel Kishan in London at skishan@bloomberg.net

To: TobagoJack who wrote (30090)	2/28/2008 6:51:11 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217774

TJ, I have a suggestion = sell all that complex realm of investments you have stacked up in perplexing array around the world and go for gold. Pure, unadulterated, essence of being. Simple fundamental measure of life. Fungible, tradable everywhere, guaranteed for time travel. You could have 20 stashes of it around the world to visit as required, with scuba gear or crampons to access the more secure stashes. Then sit back and enjoy life. You could go to 10th Dan in Unreal Tournament. Go on, while gold is still cheap. Borrow US$ to acquire even more. Mqurice