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The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board eked out a gain of 0.2 per cent in a fiscal second quarter that was tough for investors, adding $1-billion to the fund’s assets in spite of broad weakness in public and private equities as well as fixed income markets. CPPIB’s investment returns outperformed The S&P Global LargeMidCap index, a measure of stocks CPPIB uses as 85 per cent of its benchmark reference portfolio, which fell 1.46 per cent in the quarter in Canadian-dollar terms. But CPPIB narrowly trailed the performance of Canadian defined-benefit pension plans in the quarter, in which assets were up 0.5 per cent, according to Royal Bank of Canada’s RBC I&TS All Plan Universe. In the first nine months of the year, those pension plans have lost 13.7 per cent. Gains in U.S. dollar-denominated investments, which were boosted by foreign exchange rates, and positive returns from energy and infrastructure investments helped keep returns positive after CPPIB lost $23-billion in the...

The Federal Reserve’s signalling of a slowdown in the pace of U.S. interest rate hikes takes pressure off global peers to keep on raising rates and offers relief to emerging markets, which have suffered their biggest rout in over a decade this year. Central banks around the world have taken their cue from Washington in lifting borrowing costs at record pace. So a signal in the minutes of the Fed’s November meeting that policy tightening will soon slow has global ramifications, from a drop in global yields and rising stocks to a rebound in currencies against the dollar. More importantly, the Fed’s hint suggests that inflation may be coming under control, bolstering hopes of a “soft landing” for the world’s biggest economy that could in turn cushion others, many of which are already in recession. The inflation fight is far from over, especially in Europe, where the energy shock from the Ukraine has hurt most, but the Fed’s shift eases the pressure on central banks to keep moving in big...

The downturn in manufacturing activity across the euro zone eased in November, according to a survey which suggests while the bloc’s factories still face a harsh winter it may not be as bad as initially feared. S&P Global’s final manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 47.1 from October’s 46.4, but was below a preliminary reading of 47.3 and under the 50 mark separating growth from contraction. An index measuring output, which feeds into a composite PMI due on Monday and seen as a good guide to economic health, rose to 46.0 from 43.8, marking its sixth month of sub-50 readings. “The PMI signals some welcome moderation in the intensity of the euro zone manufacturing downturn in November, which will support hopes that the region many not be facing a winter downturn as severe as previously anticipated by many,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global. Suggesting there won’t be a quick revival in the industry new orders fell sharply and a chun...