Public pension funds that lost hundreds of billions during the last financial crisis still face significant risk from one basic investment: stocks, the Wall Street Journal reported. That vulnerability came into focus earlier this month as markets descended into correction territory for the first time since February 2016. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the largest public pension fund in the U.S., lost $18.5 billion in value over a 10-day trading period ended Feb. 9, according to figures provided by the system. The sudden drop represented 5 percent of total assets held by the pension fund, which had roughly half of its portfolio in equities as of late 2017. It gained back $7.4 billion through last Thursday as markets recovered.
