MIT endowment posts 5.3% loss for fiscal year

Massachusetts Institute of Technology's primary investment pool posted a loss of 5.3% for the fiscal year ended June 30, according to a news release Oct. 7 from MIT Investment Management Co., which manages and oversees investment management for the Cambridge, Mass.-based school.

MIT's primary investment pool, known as Pool A, includes endowment assets totaling $24.6 billion. Its return for the most fiscal year fell short of the median return of -3.1% among the 19 endowments whose returns for the year ended June 30 have been tracked by Pensions & Investments as of Monday.

The endowment had returned a net 55.5% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021.

For the most recent fiscal year, the negative returns reflected a challenging environment in public equities and fixed income. For the year ended June 30, the Russell 3000 index and Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond index returned -13.9% and -10.3%, respectively, in sharp contrast to returns of 44.2% and 4.6% for the year ended June 30, 2021.

MIT did not provide annualized returns for longer-term periods, benchmark information, or asset class information. Its recently released treasurer's report notes its "investment policy favors equity investments over fixed-income instruments and is heavily weighted toward less efficient markets."

MIT spokeswoman Sarah McDonnell could not immediately provide further information.