Euro Leaders’ Fiscal Union Pact Leaves Next Step to ECB

December 09, 2011, 12:17 PM EST By James G. Neuger and Stephanie Bodoni

Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- European leaders stepped up the fight against the debt crisis, channeling as much as 200 billion euros ($267 billion) to the International Monetary Fund and bowing to European Central Bank demands for a tightening of anti-deficit rules.

In an accord hailed by ECB President Mario Draghi, the leaders also laid out a new “fiscal compact” to prevent future debt runups and accelerated the startup of a planned permanent 500 billion-euro rescue fund.

“It’s a very good outcome for euro-area members and it’s going to be the basis for a good fiscal compact and more disciplined economic policy in euro-area countries,” Draghi told reporters after 12 hours of overnight talks in Brussels.

European leaders navigated a labyrinth of political, legal and economic constraints amid unrelenting pressure from financial markets to craft the new approach to fighting the two- year-old crisis, which now threatens to engulf Italy and Spain.

At the same time, the leaders ventured into untested legal territory by plotting to anchor the tougher budget rules in a separate euro-area treaty after Britain and Hungary balked at amending the existing treaty covering all 27 EU countries.

--With assistance from Rebecca Christie, Tony Czuczka, Chiara Vasarri, Jonathan Stearns, Jurjen van de Pol and Gregory Viscusi in Brussels, Mark Deen in Marseille and Hans Nichols and Roger Runningen in Washington. Editors: Patrick G. Henry, John Fraher

To contact the reporters on this story: James G. Neuger in Brussels at jneuger@bloomberg.net; Stephanie Bodoni in Brussels at contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net

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NYC Pension Funds Rose Most in 13 Years in Fiscal 2011, Liu Says

July 05, 2011, 11:01 AM EDT By Sarah Frier

July 5 (Bloomberg) -- New York City’s pension funds gained the most in 13 years last fiscal year after the hiring of new asset managers and improved stock and bond markets, Comptroller John Liu said.

The funds were valued at about $119 billion in the year that ended June 30, up more than 20 percent from $97.8 billion a year earlier, according to preliminary estimates released today by Liu, whose office oversees the pensions.

“While the markets remain volatile, we have vigorously pursued a diversification strategy to enhance our returns while lowering pension costs to the city,” Liu said in a news release. The office hired people to target asset classes such as stocks, hedge funds, fixed income, private equity and real estate, he said.

U.S. public pension-fund assets rose 3.6 percent during the first three months of the year, the U.S. Census Bureau said June 30. Assets of the 100 largest plans grew by $93.9 billion in the first quarter to $2.73 trillion, up from $2.64 trillion on Dec. 31.

Pensions have benefited from the stock market’s rebound since March 2009. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 5.4 percent in the first quarter after climbing almost 13 percent last year and 23 percent in 2009. Pension holdings of stocks rose 3.4 percent, or $29.3 billion, to $896.4 billion in the first quarter, the Census Bureau said.

--With assistance from William Selway in Washington. Editors: Jerry Hart, Stephen Merelman

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Frier in New York at Sfrier1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net.

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