New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, posted an estimated return, net of fees, of -7.2%, for the three months ended Dec. 31, the third quarter of its fiscal year.
"Like other investors, the fund saw its strong first-half gains erased during the market's steep drop at the tail end of 2018," said Thomas P. DiNapoli, state comptroller and sole trustee of the pension fund, in a news release Thursday.
"Fortunately, the market has since recouped some of those losses," Mr. DiNapoli added. "More importantly, the fund remains well diversified to handle the current market volatility and provide sustainable, long-term investment returns."
The pension fund's estimated assets dropped to $197.3 billion as of Dec. 31, down from $213.2 billion as of Sept. 30.
As of Dec. 31, the pension fund's asset allocation was 36.4% domestic equity; 26.5% cash, bonds and mortgages; 14.9% international equity; 9.5% private equity; 8.6% real estate and real assets; 4.1% absolute-return strategies and opportunistic alternatives.
The impact of the stock market's decline in late 2018 is reflected in the equity allocations between the fiscal second quarter and fiscal third quarter. For the three months ended Sept. 30, the domestic equity allocation was 41.4% of total plan assets and the international equity allocation was 15.6%.
The pension fund reported an estimated return of 3.5% for the quarter ended Sept. 30 and 1.5% for the quarter ended June 30.