The Ontario pension fund manager’s returns amounted to a gain of $3.1 billion, down from $5.6 billion generated from a six-month investment return of 4.4 per cent during the same period last year. A decline of more than five per cent in the value of the U.S. dollar in the first half of the year “meaningfully detracted” from the fund’s returns across asset classes, it said in a release. (The Logic)

Talking point: OMERS’ high exposure to the U.S. dollar had the opposite effect in 2024, when the strong currency boosted its annual return to 8.3 per cent. More than half of the pension fund’s assets—55 per cent—are now in the U.S., up from 53 per cent at the end of December. The U.S.-led global trade war and related economic uncertainty have battered the value of the country’s currency. OMERS, which invests on behalf of 640,000 public service workers in Ontario, targets a benchmark of 7.5 per cent in annual returns.