MONTREAL — Quebec pension fund La Caisse says the return on its fund for the first half of the year was 5.1 per cent, below its benchmark index’s 7.5 per cent. The company says its net assets totalled $552 billion as of June 30. Charles Emond, chief executive officer of La Caisse, says the first half of the year was dominated by two major trends: AI enthusiasm and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. He says La Caisse’s equity portfolio outperformed, as a small group of AI-related stocks benefiting from an unprecedented investment cycle in data centres drove the market rally. La Caisse’s equity portfolio recorded a return of 14.6 per cent over the six months ended June 30, which was above the benchmark index’s 13.6 per cent return. Meanwhile, its private equity portfolio fell by 4.3 per cent as AI concerns weighed on certain industries, such as insurance and financial services, during the first six months of the year. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2026. The Canadian Press
