Global

US - The US$174bn California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) has announced it is actively seeking to appoint an independent fiduciary advisor for its $14.7bn Private Equity Proactive Portfolio.

GLOBAL - Confidence in investments took a battering this month as institutional investors preferred to hold rather than sell investments, reflecting a pessimistic outlook on the health of the global economy and market fundamentals.

INCLUDING: US - Principal acquires Retirement Consulting Actuaries; AUSTRALIA - Future Fund appoints investment director; UK - AXA appoints head of fixed income; AUSTRALIA - Credit Suisse trust closes

GLOBAL - MSCI Barra has launched a new series of benchmark indices for 19 frontier market countries and the MSCI Asia APEX 50 Index, a tradable Asian index.

Including: FRANCE - Unions call off strikes; SWEDEN - AP4 chooses BlackRock; UK - Watson Wyatt expands strategy group; AUSTRALIA - Future Fund appoints director of FI and alternatives; ITALY - Banco Popolare and Citi expand custody relationship

INCLUDING - UK - Paternoster secures Lasmo Pension Plan; UK - Grayling urges PM to activate pensions package; DFSA issues hedge fund code of practice; UK - Pension funds look east; UK - Actuary leaves Aon

INCLUDING: NETHERLANDS - Appointments at PGGM; GLOBAL - Sinopia names global chief executive officer; UK - DB schemes hit in November; US - CalSTRS announces real estate consultant

GLOBAL - Risk aversion among banks and a weighty legal burden caused by the global credit crisis has severely hampered pension schemes abilities to use derivatives-based liability hedging, according to Watson Wyatt.

GLOBAL - Sovereign and Public Pension Reserve Funds (SPFs) have proven an increasingly important and popular method of investing, with global SPF assets worth in excess of $4.1trn in the 2006 fiscal year.

GLOBAL - At a time when private equity is causing controversy, a clear majority of pension funds has voted it the most interesting asset class for 2008, according to the results of this month's Global Pensions 100 Panel.