The New York State Common Retirement Fund’s (Fund) estimated return in the second quarter of the State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2019-20 was 1.16 percent for the three-month period ending Sept. 30, 2019, with an estimated value of $215.4 billion, according to New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

“Continued market volatilely supports our conservative approach to long term investing, which recently included lowering our assumed rate of return to 6.8 percent,” DiNapoli said. “The Fund remains strong, diversified and well-positioned to weather the ups and downs that have become standard in the past several months and are expected to continue.”

The Fund's estimated value reflects benefits of $3.23 billion paid out during the quarter. Its audited value as of March 31, 2019 was $210.5 billion.

As of Sept. 30, 2019, the Fund had 38.1 percent of its assets invested in publicly traded domestic equities and 15.2 percent in international public equities. The remaining Fund assets by allocation are invested in cash, bonds and mortgages (24.6 percent), private equity (9.6 percent), real estate and real assets (8.9 percent) and absolute return strategies and opportunistic alternatives (3.6 percent).

The Fund’s funded ratio of 96.1 percent is one of the strongest in the nation, behind only Wisconsin, South Dakota and Tennessee.

DiNapoli initiated quarterly investment performance reporting in 2009 as part of his ongoing efforts to increase accountability and transparency. Quarterly rates of return provide a snapshot of performance over three months and reflect a fraction of the Fund’s annual investment return.

About the New York State Common Retirement Fund

The New York State Common Retirement Fund is the third largest public pension fund in the United States. The Fund holds and invests the assets of the New York State and Local Retirement System on behalf of more than one million state and local government employees and retirees and their beneficiaries. The Fund has consistently been ranked as one of the best managed and best funded plans in the nation. The Fund's fiscal year ends March 31.

Find out how your government money is spent at Open Book New York. Track municipal spending, the state's 160,000 contracts, billions in state payments and public authority data. Visit the Reading Room for contract FOIL requests, bid protest decisions and commonly requested data.