Following market volatility and uncertainty at play through much of the first half of 2020, a strong second-half performance for the Massachusetts state pension fund â the largest six-month return in its 37-year history â helped drive the fund up to an all-time high of $86.9 billion by the end of 2020.
The Pension Reserves Investment Trust (PRIT) Fund saw a return of 16.4 percent from July 1 through Dec. 31, outperforming its benchmark for that period of 12.5 percent. That topped the record for a half-year return of 15.7 percent that had stood since June 1986, officials said Tuesday.
For the full calendar year 2020 â a year that saw volatility rock financial markets as the pandemic first took hold before they stabilized and some indices set new records â the PRIT Fund produced a return of 12.1 percent, beating its benchmark of 10.8 percent.