Oklahoma Treasurer Todd Russ said the state’s investment performance for August was a $2 billion improvement over a year ago.
“This report is an important part of my office and commitment to disclose our economic environment and portfolio results,” said the treasurer in announcing the portfolio performance, diversification and strategy results.
Funds available for investment at market value include the State Treasurer’s investments at $11,878,146,452 and State Agency balances in OK Invest at $3,506,396,841 for a total of $15,384,543,293.
August portfolio yielded 2.71% with a weighted average maturity of 2.75 years.
Total assets equaled $15.3 billion, up $2 billion in comparison to August 2022.
U.S. government agencies were 13% of the portfolio, and 18% were mortgage-backed securities.
As a share of assets, 61% were U.S. treasuries, 7% money market mutual funds and 0.5% certificates of deposit.
State bond issues and foreign bonds totaled 0.5%, comprising the balance of funds invested.
Market Conditions for August
The benchmark 10-year treasury closed the month at 4.11%, the 2-year was 4.86% and the 30-year closed at 4.21%. “Positive economic data has pushed many investors to believe that the Fed will keep rates higher for longer to tame inflation, buoying yields on longer-term government debt,” as reported by Dow Jones Newswire.
Dow Jones Newswire said, “The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite snapped five-month winning streaks, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its first monthly loss since May.”
The minutes from the July Federal Reserve meeting reflected that Fed officials were still concerned about inflation and the Fed raised interest rates by 0.25%. CNBC reported, “Almost all the meeting participants, which includes nonvoting members, were in favor of the rate increase. However, those opposed said they thought the committee could skip a hike and watch how previous increases are impacting economic conditions.”
Securities were purchased or sold utilizing competitive bidding. Bank fees and money market mutual fund operating expenses are detailed in the attached pages, as is the earnings split between the State Treasurer and the master custodian bank on securities lending income.
