Investment consultant Jason Poloz says Oklahoma City retirement fund posts strong April, tops $1 billion

Jason Poloz, the investment consultant from ACG, told the Oklahoma City Employee Retirement System at its meeting that April produced a “really, really good report” after a weak March, and that the fund had climbed back above $1 billion at month-end.

Poloz said markets sold off in March amid the war in Iran but rallied strongly in April, driven largely by earnings and capital spending in AI-related sectors. “Eighty-five percent of S and P 500 companies in the quarter beat their earnings estimates,” he said, adding that that strength, along with company capital expenditures, underpinned large gains in several asset classes.

The consultant highlighted one-year and year-to-date returns across the portfolio and managers: small cap and emerging markets showed outsized gains, and some active managers substantially outperformed. He pointed to Silvercrest's one-year return (he said it was up over 60% and about 900 basis points of added value in recent periods) and noted Wasatch, a small-cap emerging-markets strategy, was “up over 20% in the month of April.” He also cited specific examples of stocks that surged in April, including MaxLinear and other semiconductor-related firms, to illustrate the concentration of gains in AI infrastructure suppliers.

Poloz described longer-term performance and risk metrics. He said the fund's 10-year return was 8.34%, exceeding the fund's 7% actuarial hurdle and the policy benchmark. On a down-capture basis he said the portfolio historically fell less than the broad market in downturns ("you're down about 8% less than the market over time," he said, a figure he framed as roughly a 92% capture of market downside). He noted the board's asset allocation remained overweight equities and underweight fixed income and real estate relative to some larger peers, and that diversification outside large-cap U.S. equity had helped performance recently.

Board members asked no substantive follow-up questions in the recorded transcript. After the presentation the board moved to receive the investment consultant report; the board cast votes and the motion passed.

The consultant's presentation and the board's reception of the report conclude the substantive investment review at the meeting; the board then moved through routine benefit and claims items and adjourned at 10:20 a.m.