As of June 30, the Caisse recorded, for the first six months of 2022, a negative return of -7.9%, or a loss of $33.6 billion. Although the institution did better than its benchmark index, which was down -10.5%, this result contrasts with the exceptional return of 13.5% posted for the whole of 2021.
Taking deposits into account, the Caisse’s net assets fell by $28.2 billion, from $420 billion to $392 billion.
The President and Chief Executive Officer of the Caisse, Charles Émond, however, wanted to reassure Quebec savers by presenting these results on Wednesday, stressing that the capitalization of the plans is solid.: their pension is not at risk. The plans are fully funded, even after those cuts. And for twoyears ago these atypical conditions with a pandemic, a war, rate hikes, inflation […] we have increased our assets over the past two years by 60billions of dollars. So, there is currently no crisis for people to be worried about.”,”text”:”I always take a step back as CEO of the Caisse to reassure people: their pension is not at risk. The plans are fully funded, even after those cuts. And for two years there have been these atypical conditions with a pandemic, a war, rate hikes, inflation […] we have increased our assets over the past two years by 60 billion dollars. So there is no crisis right now for people to be worried about.”}}”>I always take a step back as CEO of the Caisse to reassure people: their pension is not at risk. The plans are fully funded, even after those cuts. And for two years there have been these atypical conditions with a pandemic, a war, rate hikes, inflation […] we have increased our assets over the past two years by $60 billion. So there is no crisis right now for people to be worried about.
Also, he said, the strong market rebound since June 30 has already erased half of this loss.
« Want to talk about volatility? Half of the decline in value that we saw in six months, half was recovered in a little over a month. »
If this trend were to continue, it would allow the Fund to significantly improve its results. July also turned out to be the best month for the markets in two years.
Negative return of -7.9% and delisting of investments in the Celsius Networks cryptocurrency exchange. Interview with Charles Émond, CEO of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
An atypical context
But, like all investors, the Caisse could not escape an atypical context, marked by the unexpected and instability with the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the surge in inflation and the sudden rise in interest rates. . The worst element, however, was the parallel plunge in equities and bonds.
« This is the worst semester in 50 years for the stock and bond markets. It is a correction that is extremely rare because it is simultaneous. There were very few places to invest without there being a downside. »
The institution is also careful to point out that its result is not only higher than that of its benchmark index, but that over the 5- and 10-year periods, the return is still 6.1% and 8% respectively. .3%.
<q data-attributes=""lang":"value":"fr","label":"Français","value":"html":"Si on avait fait comme notre portefeuille de référence les deuxlast years, we would be at 364billion in assets, while our assets today, reportedly, are at 392billions of dollars [il était même remonté à 405milliards de dollars en date de mercredi, selon M. Émond]. We continue for twoyears of being in a series of extreme conditions, but the Caisse managed to perform well during these two years.”,”text”:”If we had followed our benchmark portfolio for the past two years, we would be at 364 billion dollars of assets, while our assets today, reportedly, are $392 billion [il était même remonté à 405milliards de dollars en date de mercredi, selon M. Émond]. For the past two years, we have continued to be in a series of extreme conditions, but the Caisse has managed to perform well during these two years.””>If we had done as our benchmark portfolio for the past two years, we would be at $364 billion in assets, while our assets today, which we report, are at $392 billion. [il était même remonté à 405 milliards de dollars en date de mercredi, selon M. Émond]. For the past two years, we have continued to be in a series of extreme conditions, but the Caisse managed to perform well during these two years.
The news is not gloomy in all sectors: on the side of real assets, the Real Estate and Infrastructure portfolios report positive returns of 10.2% and 5.8% respectively. It should be noted, however, that the Real Estate portfolio is one of the few to have performed below the benchmark portfolio, which stands at 11.4%.
It is on the equity side that the shoe pinches. Thus, the return on the private equity portfolio was down 2.4%. But it is above all the equity portfolio that has plunged for the first six months of 2022 with a decline of 16%.
Since the rise in July cannot be seen as a sign of what is to come, Charles Émond assures us that the Caisse remains vigilant. We will see how the rates will evolve. The posture of central banks to regain control of inflation will be essential. We are on a geopolitical chessboard that is very fragile with significant repercussions for investors. In addition, there are fears of an economic slowdown, even, in some places, of a recession.
he noted, thus illustrating that any attempt at prediction would be futile in such an unstable context.