Wall Street Folly

Calpers may expand its own internal hedge funds; JP Morgan may be on the prowl for acquisitions of weaker banks ($JPM); Commercial real estate a time bomb?

Calpers suffers its worst return in 6 years

Although it probably could have been worse:  For the year ended 6/30/08 the $239 billion behemoth California Public Employees' Retirement System, aka Calpers, was down 2.6% vs a 19% gain for the prior year.  That's its worst showing in 6 years.  So it's a good thing that last year, Calpers diversified and was allowed to take positions in commodities, venture into the emerging markets, take private equity positions and was also able to go short. The stock portion of its portfolio was down 10.7%.....