The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Canada Pension Plan Investment Board earned 3.4 per cent in its latest quarter, adding $14.6-billion to its assets with help from strong gains from stocks and bonds in late 2023. The Globe's James Bradshaw writes that the CPPIB ended 2023 with nearly $591-billion in assets, up from $576-billion at the end of the previous quarter. Over 10 years, its annualized return is 9.3 per cent, down from 9.6 per cent one quarter earlier. The median return in the same quarter for Canadian defined benefit pension plans tracked by RBC Investor Services was 8.2 per cent, according to a report. In dollar terms, CPPIB said it has added $319-billion of profit to the fund from its investing over the past decade. The plan's gains in its third fiscal quarter, which ended Dec. 31, were an improvement after two tepid quarters when CPPIB reported modest losses and gains of less than 1 per cent each time. Toward the end of the year, however, public markets for stocks and bonds rebounded as inflation cooled and central banks signalled that a series of rapid interest-rate increases could be over. Its investment gains were partly offset by $4.7-billion in net flows of funds to pay pensioners.