Difficult Month For Pensions

June 9

Difficult Month For Pension Returns  

May proved to be a difficult month for Global Equities and hence impacted on pension fund reuturns for the month. Markets were faced with a number of negative issues most prominent being renewed concerns around Euro-zone debt issues. A proposed mining tax for Australian mining companies hit the basic materials sector and the Bank of Spain announcement that is was taking over the savings bank CajaSur due to property related lending losses raised concerns about the state of other savings banks in Spain. The Euro fell 7.4% versus the US dollar, with the Euro 750 billion bail-out package announced by the eurozone countries unable to stem the losses in the currency.