Lauren Bailey of Markets Group reports IMCO is restructuring its investment leadership as CIO readies to depart:

The Investment Management Corp. of Ontario (IMCO) is moving away from a single chief investment officer model as Rossitsa Stoyanova prepares to leave the role in January 2027.

IMCO plans to distribute her responsibilities among three senior investment executives, according to a press release. Rather than appoint a direct successor, the fund will divide responsibilities previously held by the CIO across its total portfolio, private markets and public equities functions.

Nick Chamie, currently senior managing director of total portfolio and capital markets and chief strategist, will become executive managing director of total portfolio. Craig Ferguson, senior managing director and head of private equity and global credit, will become executive managing director of private markets, while Angus Botterell, senior managing director and head of public equities, will become executive managing director of public equities.

All three will report directly to President and Chief Executive Officer Bert Clark and join IMCO’s senior executive team.

Stoyanova, who has served as CIO since September 2021, will remain in the role through January to oversee the transition before becoming a special advisor to IMCO. The organization said she has decided to pursue her “next professional chapter.”

In the release, Clark said Stoyanova has played a pivotal role in strengthening IMCO’s investment platform and helping shape the organization. “We are grateful for her many contributions and pleased that she will continue to support the organization during this important transition,” he said.

Stoyanova joined IMCO from CPP Investments, where she held several senior roles across the total portfolio, including managing director and head of portfolio design and construction, with responsibility for portfolio design, risk appetite and allocation. Before joining CPP Investments, she worked at GE Energy Financial Services and Deloitte & Touche.

During her tenure, IMCO continued to build out a more integrated investment platform combining asset-class investing with total portfolio asset mix, liquidity and risk management. The organization also expanded its internal investment capabilities and strategic partnerships across public and private markets.

IMCO said the new leadership structure reflects the growing scale and complexity of its investment platform and is intended to create greater focus across key investment disciplines while promoting senior talent from within.

“These appointments are a natural progression of our strategy,” Clark said. “We have deliberately built a strong investment team, and promoting outstanding leaders from within strengthens our culture, deepens collaboration and increases organizational resilience.”

IMCO manages C$90.7 billion on behalf of Ontario public-sector clients and provides investment management services, including portfolio construction, access to public and private asset classes and risk management. 

Benefits Canada also reports IMCO restructuring investment leadership following CIO’s departure: 

Rossitsa Stoyanova is leaving the Investment Management Corp. of Ontario as chief investment officer, effective January 2027.

She will become a special advisor to the investment organization after transitioning from the CIO role. In response, the IMCO will evolve the CIO role to a broader investment leadership function and make several leadership structure changes.

Nick Chamie will become executive managing director of total portfolio, while Craig Ferguson will become executive managing director of private markets and Angus Botterell will be named executive managing director of public equities. All three will join the senior executive team at the investment organization and report directly to president and chief executive officer Bert Clark.

The leadership changes reflect the growing scale and complexity of the IMCO’s investment platform, according to a press release.

“Rossitsa has played a pivotal role in strengthening our investment platform and helping shape the organization we are today,” Clark said in the release. “We are grateful for her many contributions and pleased that she will continue to support the organization during this important transition.”

IMCO announced the investment leadership appointments back in August:

• Expanded leadership structure reinforces continuity, deepens investment expertise and positions IMCO to deliver long-term value for clients

TORONTO (August 7, 2026) – The Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (“IMCO”) today announced changes to its investment leadership team following Chief Investment Officer Rossitsa Stoyanova's decision to pursue her next professional chapter.

Stoyanova will remain Chief Investment Officer through January 2027 to ensure a seamless transition before becoming Special Advisor to IMCO.

IMCO will use the transition to evolve the Chief Investment Officer role into a broader investment leadership function. Accountabilities that previously sat with one executive will be distributed across senior leaders with complementary expertise, strengthening execution across IMCO’s multi-client platform and creating growth opportunities for proven internal talent.

"Rossitsa has played a pivotal role in strengthening our investment platform and helping shape the organization we are today,” said Bert Clark, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are grateful for her many contributions and pleased that she will continue to support the organization during this important transition."

Effective January 2027:

• Nick Chamie, currently Senior Managing Director, Total Portfolio and Capital Markets and Chief Strategist will become Executive Managing Director, Total Portfolio.
• Craig Ferguson, currently Senior Managing Director, Head of Private Equity and Global Credit will become Executive Managing Director, Private Markets.
• Angus Botterell, currently Senior Managing Director, Head of Public Equities will become Executive Managing Director, Public Equities.

Each will report directly to the President and CEO and join IMCO's Senior Executive Team.

The new structure reflects the growing scale and complexity of IMCO’s investment platform, creates greater focus across key disciplines and reinforces IMCO’s commitment to developing exceptional leaders from within.

“These appointments are a natural progression of our strategy,” said Clark. “We have deliberately built a strong investment team, and promoting outstanding leaders from within strengthens our culture, deepens collaboration and increases organizational resilience. Most importantly, it positions us to deliver even stronger long-term outcomes for our clients.”

The appointments build on IMCO’s differentiated investment philosophy, which emphasizes broad diversification, disciplined risk and liquidity management, cost-effective implementation and a long-term investment horizon. Managing client portfolios holistically helps strengthen portfolio resilience and efficiency while positioning clients to capture long-term opportunities.

"Our strategy has never depended on any one individual," added Clark. "It depends on building enduring institutional capability. The depth of talent we have developed gives us tremendous confidence in the future and ensures continuity for our clients as we continue to grow."

About IMCO

The Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (“IMCO”) manages $90.7 billion of assets on behalf of its clients. Designed exclusively to drive better investment outcomes for Ontario's broader public sector, IMCO operates under an independent, not-for-profit, cost recovery structure. We provide leading investment management services, including portfolio construction advice, better access to a diverse range of asset classes and sophisticated risk management capabilities. As one of Canada's largest institutional investors, we invest around the world and execute large transactions efficiently. Our scale gives clients access to a well-diversified global portfolio, including sought-after private and alternative asset classes. Follow us on LinkedIn and X @imcoinvest. 

Alright, someone emailed me inconspicuously this morning to let me know about the leadership restructuring that took place at IMCO.

My apologies; this story came out in early August, and I totally missed it.  

I must admit, I don't track IMCO closely, but I should have lumped this with my discussion on senior departures at HOOPP and CPP Investments a month ago.

Also, to be brutally honest, my attention these days is almost exclusively on markets, a lot less on pensions.

So, my bad for not covering events at IMCO last month; let me share my thoughts quickly.

First, I am sad to see Rossitsa leave the role of CIO at IMCO. I thought she was doing an excellent job there over the last five years (she was appointed CIO of IMCO in August 2021, replacing Jean Michel).

IMCO's press release states she will be staying on till January after which she will shift into the role of  "special advisor" as she prepares for her next "professional challenge".

Between you and me, that's a polite way of showing someone the door, you pay them off, ask them to remain in the role till the new year begins and "transition them to the role of special advisor".

Again, I might be wrong, maybe she has another job lined up like Lori Hall-Kimm who joined her former boss at CPP Investments, Alain Carrière, over at Abu Dhabi Investment Council, but it is odd that Rossitsa isn't staying on as CIO at IMCO.

Now, to be fair to Bert Clark, maybe he tried the CIO approach for five years and wants to try something different. There is nothing edged in stone that a large pension fund has to have a CIO.

La Caisse doesn't have one (only a head of Liquid Markets). BCI's CEO, Gordon Fyfe, also assumes the role of CIO, a hat he seems reluctant to part with ever since I knew him in 2002 at La Caisse and then subsequently in 2003 at PSP.

OMERS recently restructured its leadership after its CIO, Ralph Berg left the organization and CEO Blake Hutcheson gave more responsibility to Michael Hill and other senior executives who will report directly to him.

OTPP has two co-CIOs who are in charge of total portfolio and liquid and private markets and it seems to be working well for them. 

But there's nothing set in stone that a large pension fund has to have a CIO.

In fact, some people hate it, others love it. All I can tell you is if you don't put the right, competent person as a CIO and give them ample power across public and private markets, then it can backfire on the organization.

CIOs like Bob Bertram and the late Neil Petroff are my benchmark for outstanding CIOs, and they don't come around often.

All this to say, maybe there were legitimate reasons for Bert Clark to promote his boys -- Nick Chamie, Craig Ferguson, and Angus Botterell -- and get rid of Rossitsa and the position of CIO, but let me tell you, if I was a client of IMCO, I'd be ripping into Bert Clark and the Board, asking a lot of pertinent questions. 

Notice I said to promote his "boys"? I find it strange that the two most senior female investment executives at IMCO recently left the organization.

Back in May, Jennifer Hartviksen, IMCO's former global head of Credit, announced on LinkedIn she left the organization to head up Fixed Income at TD Asset Management.

So, two women, big positions at IMCO, replaced by men.

"So what Leo, who cares, let the men reign for once, everything is DEI hires these days."

Trust me, I don't have an issue with promoting competent men (key word is competent), but the optics don't look good, especially to IMCO's clients, many of which are women.

The other thing I'm going to throw out there to all pension fund leaders is that immigrants are taking over Canada. They might have funny names with lots of vowels, but they are increasingly moving up the socioeconomic ranks and if they're not properly represented at all levels of your organization, well, shame on you!!

It's about time that immigrants or sons and daughters of immigrants get their fair share of representation at all our large pension funds and here I will not mince my words: some organizations are doing a much better job than others at hiring a diverse workforce across all levels, including senior levels.

"Well Leo, we cannot have people with funny sounding names at senior levels of a large Canadian pension fund, doesn't look, well, Canadian."

Bullocks!! Absolute rubbish!! Put the best person in charge regardless of their name, religion, gender, sexual orientation, color of their skin, or disability (don't get me started on that last one).

So yeah, maybe Bert Clark had legitimate reasons to restructure his leadership and get rid of the CIO position, but the optics of all this do not look particularly good for IMCO and could send the wrong message to women and Canadian allophones busting their ass to get into these shops. 

"Leo, come on, nobody really cares; it's all part of the game. Politics looms large at these large shops. In a year, nobody will remember Rossitsa Stoyanova or Jennifer Hartviksen ever worked at IMCO, just like people forgot all about Jean Michel."

Maybe, but here is my warning to Bert Clark and IMCO's Board: be very careful about how you are perceived out there, or you risk attracting B-types at your organization (I'm dead serious). 

Alright, back to markets and trading. Unlike the pension aristocracy I cover here, I have to eat what I kill.

I wish Rossitsa Stoyanova all the best in her next professional challenge; it was a pleasure conversing with her a couple of times while covering IMCO properly. 

Below, the CNBC Investment Committee debates how they're setting up their portfolios as we head into the fourth quarter.

Also, Glen Smith, chief investment officer at GDS Wealth Management, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the impact of bonds and inflation on the markets. 

Rising rates are already hitting the US housing market and that's not good if unemployment rises significantly. 

Today, BCI released its 2025-2026 Stewardship Report: 

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), one of Canada’s largest institutional investors, today released its 2025-2026 Stewardship Report, demonstrating continued environmental, social, and governance (ESG) leadership and measurable progress through engagement, proxy voting, and policy dialogue. 

“In a year that tested active owners, BCI advanced our stewardship program with the same conviction and persistence we have held for more than 20 years,” said Jennifer Coulson, BCI’s Senior Managing Director & Global Head, ESG. “Consistency is an advantage, and our approach is driving improvements in our portfolio and creating long-term sustainable value for our clients.” 

Last year, BCI directly engaged 181 public and private portfolio companies on material ESG risks and opportunities, reaching thousands more through collaborative initiatives. Of the in-depth engagements, 44% showed positive momentum and 8% achieved objectives outright, illustrating that constructive dialogue can deliver real-world outcomes.  

Notable multi-year engagement successes include contributions towards Scotiabank becoming the first Canadian bank to publicly disclose its Energy Supply Financing Ratio; Samsung Electronics incorporating climate metrics into executive compensation and setting a new 2030 emissions target; and Valence Surface Technologies investing US$5.7 million in environmental, health, and safety enhancements.  

“As the investment landscape grows more complex and interconnected, we continue to see good governance as the foundation everything else relies on,” added Coulson. “The willingness of boards and management to engage signals alignment on long-term performance and a commitment to managing material risks and opportunities.”  

BCI continued to cast ballots for public companies across its portfolio during the 2026 proxy season, a total of 2,209 meetings across 55 countries. This included voting against 26% of management proposals based on a careful assessment of governance practices and oversight of environmental and social risks. New analysis of BCI’s proxy voting record found that companies receiving BCI’s lowest levels of support for management proposals were also 1.6x more likely to see sharp declines in share price than companies receiving the highest support over a five-year period. While not predictive, understanding the potential relationship between voting practices and financial performance reinforces the importance of using shareholder rights to hold management and boards accountable. 

BCI Stewardship highlights 2025-2026 

• Building climate resilience: Expanded engagement on physical climate risk across the infrastructure portfolio, working closely with private holdings like Endeavour Energy and Cube Highways, as extreme weather events increasingly factor into long-term asset performance. 

• Evolving methane measurement: Convened companies across the Canadian LNG value chain on methane measurement as a credibility signal and commercial differentiator. Following engagement, TC Energy tied executive pay to a new 2035 methane reduction target and Tourmaline Oil became the first company to certify an integrated gas production and processing system under MiQ, a global methane certification standard.  

• Generating value in private markets: Worked with 19 private portfolio companies and 26 general partners to strengthen and support sustainability initiatives. BCI hosted its second ESG Value Creation Conference in New York and collaborated with Stanford University’s Long-Term Investing Initiative on original research linking ESG practices to financial performance. 

• Strengthening responsible AI expectations: Tailored approach to AI engagement to distinguish between developers, deployers, and the broader value chain, joined the World Benchmarking Alliance’s Collective Impact Coalition for Ethical AI, and continued comprehensive dialogue with Amazon on AI governance and infrastructure impacts. 

• Advancing Indigenous relations: Engaged Canadian firms on implementing their reconciliation commitments, including Agnico Eagle Mines, Enbridge, Hydro One, and Hydro-Québec. BCI reinforced foundational expectations with management, while supporting corporate certification and equity participation initiatives. 

Read the 2025-2026 Stewardship Report. 

This stewardship reporting is complementary to the ESG and climate-related disclosures available in BCI’s 2025-2026 Corporate Annual Report.  

I don't normally cover every stewardship report our pension funds put out except for those of La Caisse and BCI because they are widely recognized as leaders in the field.

Take the time to read BCI's 2025-26 Stewardship report here. 

At a minimum, read what BCI's Head of ESG, Jennifer Coulson has to share: 

The part about consistency is their advantage is spot on, as is proper communication with private and public companies as to what their expectations are.

The other thing worth noting is how once again,BCI notes extreme weather now factors into their infrastructure investments.

Last year, Jennifer Coulson shared this with Jeffery Jones of The Globe and Mail:

Investors are taking different approaches to the issue. Jennifer Coulson, senior managing director and global head, ESG, for British Columbia Investment Management Corp. (BCI), said physical risk assessment affects both macro and micro calculus.

“We have to be aware of the broad trends and what’s happening, and so physical climate-change risk is captured in the climate change scenario work that we do at the total portfolio level,” Ms. Coulson said.

“But then you really have to understand the implications of that from a bottoms-up perspective as well. As we are making investment decisions, we need to make sure that this is factored into, particularly, some of the hard assets that we would be holding for, in some cases, decades.”

Acquiring the right data, and tools for slicing and dicing it, is a top challenge as BCI looks to prepare for a range of scenarios, she said.

In its recently released Stewardship Report, BCI listed physical and transition risks as its first priority in engagements with portfolio companies, saying they threaten asset value, can increase operational costs and disrupt supply chains. 

Anyway, take the time to read BCI's latest Stewardship report here.

Below, earlier this summer, Jennifer Coulson took part in a panel discussion at Finance Montreal moderated by Hervé Duteil, Head of ESG at BNP Paribas Americas. Have a listen; excellent insights.

Andrew Willis of The Globe and Mail reports Canadian airports can anchor a global infrastructure champion:

If you are reading this while killing time waiting for a flight in one of Canada’s major airports, you are sitting in what should be the country’s next global corporate champion.

The federal government’s long-overdue decision to sell concessions in four major domestic hubs – Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal – promises to be a win for passengers and taxpayers. After years of analysis paralysis, Prime Minister Mark Carney has an opportunity to improve the passenger experience while raising billions of dollars.

The ultimate goal in this exercise, clearly visible to a Prime Minister who started his career as a Goldman Sachs banker advising governments on privatizations, should be creating a private-sector operator of Canadian airports that does business around the world.

At least one domestic pension fund, Montreal-based PSP Investments, is already well down this runway.

In June, months before Mr. Carney announced plans to sell airport concessions at last Tuesday’s Canada Investment Summit, Montreal-based consultant Fethi Chebil published a sector study that started with a metaphysical question for the government.

“What is an airport for? An asset to sell, or a tool to build a national operator?” Dr. Chebil said in his June report.

For governments, Dr. Chebil concluded that launching a business beats selling a few terminals. To support his argument, Dr. Chebil pointed to the success that Canada’s largest pension funds have enjoyed internationally as owners of airport operators, and the virtues of this model for frequent flyers.

The poster child for airport operators globally is PSP, which pays for the retirements of soldiers, Mounties and civil servants. The $321-billion fund manager has built a global business that should serve as a road map for Canadian airport ownership.

In 2013, PSP acquired a collection of European airports from a German infrastructure fund for €1.1-billion. The wholly owned subsidiary, branded as AviAlliance, now operates seven facilities in Scotland, Germany, England and Puerto Rico.

AviAlliance is the largest holding in a PSP infrastructure portfolio that handily beat performance benchmarks over the past decade.

AviAlliance airports also charge travellers less for food, beverages and fees than Canadian airports, according to Dr. Chebil’s research. Domestic airports operate as non-profit, debt-funded Crown corporations, a cumbersome, only-in-Canada ownership approach devised in 1992. Dr. Chebil said in his report: “The 1992 structure is not delivering lower costs to users.”

Private airport owners would create more opportunities for travellers to drop stupid amounts of money on cucumber-lined Hendrick’s martinis or Rolex watches. That’s discretionary consumer spending. Want to curtail the cost of a trip? Avoid airport restaurants and retailers.

The experience in Europe and Australia, where governments sold airport concessions, is to keep costs down by regulating fees on monopoly services such as baggage handling or aeronautical services including navigation. Governments use the same approach to ensure pipeline operators and electrical utilities don’t gouge consumers.

In 2016, former federal finance minister Bill Morneau launched an economic review that said selling airports was among the best options for a government that needed to find money for infrastructure projects. A decade later, Mr. Carney is following through.

For insight into how the Prime Minister thinks about finance, recall Mr. Carney’s pointed criticism of the billions in “dead money” on corporate balance sheets back in 2012, when he was governor of the Bank of Canada.

In a Q&A after a speech to the Canadian Auto Workers union, the then-central banker took CEOs and boards to task for being excessively cautious by sitting on cash, rather than investing in growth or returning money to shareholders.

There is a straight line from what Governor Carney said about dead money years ago to what Prime Minister Carney announced on airports last week.

Last Tuesday, in his opening speech at the investment summit, Mr. Carney said by selling airport concessions, while retaining ownership of the assets, “we will unlock their true value, by bringing in new capital and expertise into their operations and growth.”

“We will reinvest the tens of billions of dollars of capital we raise into the infrastructure that Canada needs,” the Prime Minister said.

Airports represent dead money on the federal government’s balance sheet. Selling concessions to operate Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal’s terminals can make flying more pleasant, without boosting the cost of travel.

And placing the country’s four major airports in the proven hands of a fund manager such as PSP could create a global champion in a critical infrastructure sector. 

I wanted to kick this week off by discussing Canadian airports again.

Andrew Willis, citing Dr. Fethi Chebil, goes over many important points as to why we want to privatize airports.

In short, private airport owners would create more opportunities for travellers to enjoy the airport experience by enhancing the operations through a myriad of ways.

One thing I want to correct Andrew Willis on: airports aren't dead money for the federal government; they are a cash cow, which explains the reticence to privatize them.

But enough is enough. Canadian travellers deserve a better experience and better airport operators who understand these assets and know how to manage them properly.

If our pension funds -- not just PSP but OTPP and others including international funds -- can add value to our airports, and make money in the process, I am more than fine with that. 

The sooner we get on with it, the better. Let the unions complain; it's high time we join the rest of the world and make our airports world-class (they are far from it).  

Anyway, let's get on with it already and carve out these airports to the biggest and best funds domestically and internationally. 

Below, Jo Taylor, CEO of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, joins BNN Bloomberg's Lindsay Biscaia live from the Canada Investment Summit. Listen carefully to what he says when asked about enhancing value at our airports (around minute 3:40). 

Also, a corporate video on AviAlliance, PSP's airport platform, one of the most successful in the world.

Sean Conlon, Justina Lee and Tobias Burns of CNBC report the Dow jumps more than 470 points Friday; stocks notch winning week despite Treasury yield surge:

U.S. equities rose on Friday as Wall Street wrapped up a volatile week of trading, with a surge in Treasury yields rippling through financial markets.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.51% to close at 7,743.41, while the Nasdaq Composit gained 0.5% to 27,068.72. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 478.64 points, or 0.93% to end at 51,828.62.

Akamai Technologies was a key winner of the session, rising 3% after announcing a multiyear deal with Anthropic.

Also helping sentiment, oil prices slid amid optimism that the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened, as Iran has asked the U.S. to return to the memorandum of understanding from June that failed to end the Middle East conflict. West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped 2.33% to settle at $92.41 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude futures declined 2.14% to $104.32 a barrel.

With the day’s gains, the Dow notched a winning week, up 0.3%. The S&P 500 added 1.2%, while the Nasdaq rose 2%.

That advance was bolstered by technology stocks such as Meta Platforms, which popped nearly 13% on the week amid excitement surrounding its artificial intelligence agent Muse. Information technology rose 3.1%, which was the most of any of the S&P 500′s sectors.

The drama continued in the bond market, where the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to its highest level since 2007, while the 30-year yield reached its highest level since 2004. The two were last seen up slightly at 5.163% and 5.488%, respectively.

This week’s ascent in yields was fueled by hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr, persistently high energy prices due to the Iran war, and a hot purchasing managers’ report. Fed funds futures trading suggests a roughly 64% likelihood of a rate hike in October, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Eric Diton, president of The Wealth Alliance, noted that investor sentiment has been weakening as bond yields have been rising, with bearish sentiment seeing a “sharp” increase from just two weeks earlier. That said, he believes the market has been “incredibly resilient” in the face of the developments, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq roughly 1% below their recent highs.

“Should rates continue to climb, they should have a larger impact on market performance at some point in the future,” he cautioned.

Meanwhile, traders were monitoring Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the U.S. this week. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC Friday that “a lot more details” on negotiations between the U.S. and China are going to be released Monday.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier in the week that the two countries have agreed to extend their trade truce by two months. 

The big story this week was shares of Meta Platforms (META) surging to a new 52-week high as the company released its new Muse Charm device, which is intended to put it ahead of rivals like OpenAI and Google in AI agents and consumer hardware (read more here):

Look at the weekly 5-year chart above, the never broke below its 200-week exponential moving average. It was a buy near $500 (its 52-week low was $520 a share). And this week it made a new 52-week high before giving up some gains today (the stock is up 32% over the past month).

I didn't need to listen to the talking heads on CNBC to figure out that it was only a matter of time before this stock turns up. At the end of the day, Meta is a cash cow just off Instagram and it seems like all that spending on AI is finally paying off (but they need to demonstrate they're gaining a foothold in the corporate market).

What else? Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) are up nicely today after CEO Satya Nadella said its cloud-based Autopilot is the 'next generation' of enterprise AI (see his comments here).

Microsoft's share price bounced nicely off its 52-week low of $349 and the stock remains in a bullish uptrend despite the lackluster performance over the past month.

More generally, the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF (MAGS), which tracks the performance of the “Magnificent Seven,”is back firmly in bullish mode, breaking out and making a new 52-week high:

Also worth noting the iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF (MTUM), which holds all the top memory chip makers, is turning back up and looking great again:

 Conversely, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP), which is a broader measure of the market, is turning back down and selling off here as we close the quarter (FOMO kicking in hard):

This is what we have seen all year: either Mag-7 stocks are doing well or the broader market is doing well but rarely, if ever, both are rallying.

Capiche? this is what you need to pay attention to, never mind bond yields back at 2007 levels and all the scary stories about that.

Can the 10-year US Treasury yield touch 6% this year? Sure it can, and I guarantee you every pension fund in the world will be jumping on them at that point, but I doubt yields will back up a lot more here (because already global allocators are buying bonds and unless you have nasty inflation surprises, not going to happen).

In fact, just looking at the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), which is a price index, I can tell you bonds are starting to look mighty attractive at these levels (but prices can fall further):

There is a point where global pension funds say, "screw this", we are not being compensated enough to take risks in stocks, hedge funds, private equity, private credit, real estate, infrastructure or other risk assets; we are gong to park our money in bonds and wait for a catastrophe to unfold.

We are not there yet but yields backing up like this is offering interesting opportunities in the fixed income markets.

And don't forget, as long bond yields back up, pension liabilities go down a lot because the discount rate goes up. And if stocks hold up, that's great news.

Alright, let me wrap it up with the top-performing US large cap stocks this week (full list here):

 

And here are the worst-performing US large cap stocks this week (full list here):

 

And here is my biotech stock of the week, Viking Therapeutics (VKTX):

Do a deep dive here, only a matter of time before this company gets bought out at much higher multiples (read more here but most articles are terrible, look at the top holders and do your own due diligence). 

There are great biotech stocks out there, but I don't get paid enough to share all my secrets.

Below, the CNBC 'Halftime Report' Investment Committee breaks down its reaction to rising Treasurys and what it means for equities.

Also, yields are competing with stocks and the Fed just hiked, but Tom Lee says the market is missing two things: where inflation will be in six months, and which companies actually get stronger as rates rise.

Sean Silcoff of The Globe and Mail reports OMERS promotes Laura Lenz to lead venture capital unit:

Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System has appointed Laura Lenz to head its venture capital arm, the fourth person to hold the job in just over three years, while signalling a continued commitment to backing Canadian technology founders.

Ms. Lenz, a veteran early-stage capital investor who joined OMERS Ventures in 2019 and oversaw its Canadian investments, replaces Saar Pikar, who left in July after just one year on the job to lead Kensington Capital Partners Ltd. He in turn had replaced Michael Yang, who departed two years after replacing Damien Steel, who left in 2023 to lead climate technology startup Deep Sky Corp.

“We have a fantastic track record in Canada, and I’m excited to continue building,” said Ms. Lenz, who started her career as an associate with BMO Capital Markets before taking on investor roles at EdgeStone Capital Partners, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund and Geoff Beattie-led Generation Ventures. “I know the people, I know our portfolio, I know our strategy.”

OMERS private capital head Michael Block said in an interview: “We have tremendous confidence in her and her whole team. She is very thoughtful and conscious about risk. She’s built a great network of relationships with founders in Canada and has a great reputation.”

OMERS Ventures started in 2011 when then-CEO Michael Nobrega brought on John Ruffolo to back promising Canadian tech entrepreneurs. The timing was ideal. While the Canadian venture capital industry was reeling following the retreat of institutional investors during the 2008-09 credit crisis, the tech startup world was rife with opportunity, as smartphones, cloud computing and artificial intelligence proliferated.

OMERS Ventures made early bets on future Canadian champions including Shopify Inc., Xanadu Quantum Technologies Ltd. and Hopper Inc. It expanded to Britain and the United States and began managing third-party capital before Mr. Ruffolo departed in 2018.

But OMERS Ventures’ relative prominence in the ecosystem faded as other domestic tech financiers including Georgian, Inovia Capital and Radical Ventures amassed billions of dollars in assets.

The information technology sector entered a prolonged slump in 2021 – with the exception of artificial intelligence and quantum computing – and the rise of AI-powered companies weighed on valuations of cloud-software companies, including many held by OMERS Ventures. OMERS this year sustained a nine-figure loss after TouchBistro Inc., which OMERS Ventures and OMERS Growth had backed heavily in the 2010s, was bought by Constellation Software for $100-million.

By then OMERS Ventures had stopped investing in Europe to focus primarily on Canada and shed much of its staff. Today it has four partners including Ms. Lenz, five associates and a principal.

The changes stem from a broader review of OMERS’s private-equity business, which has pivoting toward more investing through third-party funds and as a co-investment partner, with a North American focus. OMERS has also stopped making new growth-stage investments in more mature tech companies through a separate group.

At the same time, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has amassed more than $25.9-billion in investments by financing some of the hottest technology names in the world through its venture growth arm TVG, including Anthropic PBC, Space Explorations Technology Corp. (SpaceX), Databricks Inc. and legal AI software vendor Harvey AI Corp.

OMERS Ventures, which has about $2-billion allocated to venture investments – roughly 1 per cent of the pension giant’s assets – has made four investments in each of the past three years. It has continued to back high-profile emerging Canadian tech names, including Cohere Inc., Waabi Innovations Inc., Float Financial Solutions Inc. and Dominion Dynamics. Its stake in Xanadu, despite a recent selloff, is still worth more than US$200-million –a sizable gain given it invested less than US$30-million for its stake.

Ms. Lenz said OMERS Ventures’ refocusing on Canada has worked out. “It’s where our network is. It’s where our best performing companies are. We have a lot of opportunity here,” she said. She said OMERS is looking to invest $5-million to $15-million per company, focusing on rapidly expanding AI-first businesses led by “ambitious founders that have a global market opportunity.”

Mr. Block said OMERS Ventures would continue “the same direction of travel” under Ms. Lenz and that the pension fund doesn’t plan to increase its allotment to venture capital. But, he added, “we’re open minded. We look at opportunities as they come. We just see a really good opportunity to focus on what we’re focused on.” 

Lauren Bailey of Markets Group also reports OMERS taps Laura Lenz to lead Ventures amid Canada-first push:

The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) has appointed Laura Lenz managing director and head of its Ventures platform as the fund doubles down on backing Canadian technology companies and founders.

Her appointment comes as OMERS more broadly increases its exposure to Canada. The pension fund, which had C$151.6 billion in net assets as of June 30, has committed to making at least C$10 billion in new Canadian investments over five years and deployed an additional C$1 billion into Canadian equities during the first half of 2026.

“[Lenz] brings the experience, judgment and deep understanding of founders needed to lead OMERS Ventures into its next chapter,” said Michael Block, head of private capital, in a press release. “She will build on the strength of an experienced team with a continued focus on supporting high-potential companies, deploying capital with conviction and helping founders build businesses that can scale globally.”

Lenz has been with OMERS Ventures for seven years and has worked in venture capital since 2004. She brings experience across venture capital, growth investing and company building, along with a strong understanding of founders, technology companies and the Canadian innovation ecosystem.

The appointment builds on leadership changes OMERS implemented within its Ventures group last year, when Lenz was promoted from partner to managing director as the platform increased its focus on Canada while continuing to pursue selective opportunities in the U.S.

Founded in 2011 with its first investment in Toronto-based Wave, OMERS Ventures has backed 46 Canadian companies, including Shopify, Xanadu, D2L, Float, Hopper, Jobber, League, OneVest, Solink, Wave Accounting, Wattpad and Waabi. More recently, it backed Cohere and Dominion Dynamics, participating this year in Dominion Dynamics’ C$139 million Series A funding round.

Under Lenz’s leadership, OMERS said the platform’s focus will continue to be Canada first, backing ambitious founders and category-defining companies while using OMERS’ global network, scale and flexible capital to help founders access capital, customers and growth opportunities.

In a LinkedIn post announcing her appointment, Lenz said OMERS Ventures has two additional investments that have yet to be publicly announced. She grouped those investments alongside Cohere and Dominion Dynamics as examples of where the platform sees the next generation of important companies emerging: at the intersection of artificial intelligence, infrastructure and software.

Lenz also outlined the platform’s investment strategy going forward, noting OMERS Ventures plans to target exceptional early-stage companies with initial investments of C$5 million to C$15 million and remain a meaningful partner as those businesses scale.

“We are a venture platform with the ability to invest early, support companies through scale and bring more than capital to the table,” Lenz wrote.

Today, OMERS Ventures announced the appointment of Laura Lenz as Managing Director, Head of Ventures, backing the next generation of global companies:

OMERS Ventures today announced that Laura Lenz has been appointed Managing Director, Head of Ventures, marking the next chapter for the platform as it continues to back ambitious founders building globally competitive companies from Canada and beyond.

“Laura brings the experience, judgment and deep understanding of founders needed to lead OMERS Ventures into its next chapter,” said Michael Block, Head of Private Capital. “She will build on the strength of an experienced team with a continued focus on supporting high-potential companies, deploying capital with conviction and helping founders build businesses that can scale globally.”

Lenz has been with OMERS Ventures for seven years and has worked in venture capital since 2004. She brings deep experience across venture capital, growth investing and company building, along with a strong understanding of founders, technology companies and the Canadian innovation ecosystem.

“Venture is ultimately a people business,” said Lenz. “The best outcomes come from trust, judgment, conviction and partnership. My priority is to build on that foundation: creating an environment where different perspectives are valued, individual conviction is encouraged and our collective standard remains high.”

Founded in 2011 with its first investment in Toronto-based Wave, OMERS Ventures has been an early and long-standing supporter of Canadian companies, founders and the broader venture ecosystem. Since inception, OMERS Ventures has backed 46 Canadian companies, including Shopify, Xanadu, D2L, Float, Hopper, Jobber, League, OneVest, Solink, Wave Accounting, Wattpad, Waabi, with more recent investments in Cohere and Dominion Dynamics.

Under Lenz’s leadership, OMERS Ventures’ focus will continue to be Canada first: backing ambitious founders and category-defining companies, while using OMERS global network, scale and flexible capital to help founders access capital, customers and growth opportunities.

“The ambition has been here in Canada,” said Lenz. “What is changing is our willingness to build around it. At OMERS Ventures, our part is clear: back exceptional founders early, bring meaningful capital and conviction, use the full strength of the OMERS network where it can help, and support those founders in building companies that can compete with anyone, anywhere.”

As part of OMERS, one of Canada’s largest pension plans, OMERS Ventures is able to connect founders with institutional expertise, global relationships and sector knowledge across markets and geographies. That platform advantage supports the team’s goal of helping companies scale while creating long-term value for OMERS members, and aligns with OMERS broader commitment to invest $10 billion more in Canada over approximately the next five years across asset classes.

OMERS Ventures sees a strong opportunity set in Canada, particularly in areas where AI is creating or reshaping markets, including defence technologies, physical AI, and vertical AI platforms built for specific industry workflows. Next week, OMERS Ventures will host its annual AI Assembly Summit, bringing together leading Canadian and international investors, founders and industry experts to discuss how artificial intelligence is reshaping venture capital, infrastructure, defence, robotics and the broader investment landscape.

Alright, big announcement at OMERS Ventures which has seen a lot of turnover at the helm recently after Saar Pikar, the former head, left the pension fund in July to become president of Kensington Capital Partners Ltd.

That move marked the third time in three years that the OMERS Ventures unit has changed hands. Damien Steel left in 2023. Michael Yang, its most senior venture capital leader, followed two years later. 

Hopefully, Ms. Lenz will stick around longer than her predecessors. She has the experience and judgment and an interesting background with great and authentic perspective:

Growing up, the dinner table was my first conference room. My dad's investment banking background merged with my mom's nursing career, and our family’s passion for art, created the foundation for a rich tapestry of conversation. From an early age I was captivated by financial narratives.

‍I also loved languages. I started teaching myself Spanish in 4th grade and Japanese in 7th grade. My love of languages would lead me to spending time studying or working in Mexico,Tokyo and Peru at various points in my life, ensuring that today I look at most things through a truly global lens. My fascination with Japan was directly linked to my martial arts practice. I still train regularly today and currently hold black belts in Karate and Tae Kwon Do. Not only did martial arts instill in me a deep sense of respect for the role of health in my ability to succeed, but it taught me a level of discipline I still draw upon today.

‍After a finance-focused undergrad and working in Tokyo and New York City, I discovered my love for private markets - and venture capital in particular - at Edgestone in 2004. It was one of Canada's few early-stage tech funds at the time. And at $104M it was one of the biggest! Working alongside two operators, I honed my investing skills, learning that respect and humility are just as vital as vision and strategy.

While in banking, I was involved in a significant IPO at the time – 724 Solutions – it was a payments engine and soared to a market cap larger than the Bank of Montreal (where I worked at the time). It was quite a journey and helped me to understand a bubble early in my career. 

‍Today, I am most interested in looking at companies operating at the intersection of fintech and commerce - I call it financial value exchange. The areas of fintech I get most excited about include data exchange and enrichment; companies providing the orchestration layer to manage and drive insights from the multitude of applications and point solutions that exist in an enterprise; fraud and identity management; and agile billing platforms that enable companies to be flexible and responsive in their pricing models. I’m also passionate about the ability for technology to unlock financial literacy, and products for those who have traditionally been underserved. I like products that are emerging to prevent people with low incomes from getting trapped in endless debt cycles.

‍What should founders know about me?

When I sit on your board, my role is to engage in candid, constructive dialogue that propels your company forward. I bring a holistic perspective to the challenges and opportunities facing your business. Whether it's connecting you with the right talent or customers, I'm all in. But I will never shy away from telling you what I really think. It is this transparency that has helped me create long lasting relationships with founders I’ve backed over the last two decades.

And yes, I may be intense but I am far from robotic. The humanity in business matters to me a lot. Whether it's dealing with employees or investors, people are not just line items on an income statement; they're the essence of any successful endeavour.

‍Despite the fact that my finance career began in the late nineties it was a different era. I was regularly the only woman in the room. And was referred to as ‘sweetheart’ more often than I care to admit. As a result of this - and the fact that I am raising a child with a physical disability - it has been important to me throughout my career to ensure that wherever I work we are creating space for diverse voices to get heard. 

‍While I'm a strong advocate for Canadian talent, my love for languages and diverse cultures runs deep in my DNA. This blend of local pride and international vision defines me, both as a person and an investor. 

Very impressive. I think OMERS Ventures has found itself an exceptional leader, and I do wish her a lot of success.

I've seen it all in venture cap: the good, the bad and downright ugly (I was at BDC in 2008, VC got massacred).

It's not an easy game but necessary and can be lucrative (just look at OTPP's success with SpaceX, and soon Anthropic and other companies in its portfolio, including Harvey, the leading AI legal platform). 

For it's part, OMERS Ventures has done very well with Xanadu despite that stock's recent selloff. 

Its Canadian focus comes at the right time but there is competition in the space.

I recently covered the Canada Investment Summit where I noted Radical Ventures launched Canada’s largest AI fund with $1-billion USD first close and lots of top Canadian pension funds backing it.

I said Canada's VC industry desperately needs major capital and expertise to nurture startups into mature growth companies. Hopefully this new fund will be a huge success.  

I wish the same for OMERS Ventures as Laura Lenz takes over the helm.

Just remember, venture cap is never an easy game; you can allocate $5 million or more to 100 companies and are lucky if one or two hit a home run (or grand slam like SpaceX). 

This is why pension funds typically allocate between 1 and 3% of their total assets to venture cap/ growth equity. 

Alright, let me wrap it up there.

Below, from two years ago, the kickoff CIX Summit with Co-chairs Laura Lenz, (then) Partner at OMERS Ventures and Alison Nankivell, Senior Vice President, Fund Investments at BDC Capital, discussing the current state of the Canadian market, venture capital investing, and the future of the Canadian tech landscape. Great insights from both of them.