MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Retirement Systems of Alabama Chief Investment Officer Marc Green gave caution to RSA board members Tuesday on the prospects of making major investments amid the extreme market volatility onset largely due to President Donald Trump’s proposed trade policies.
“With everything that’s going on, nobody really knows the rules of the game at this second, so you’re starting to see earning estimate revisions, you’ve had some pretty high-profile companies, (and lower-profile) guys, start to sit on their hands,” Green said.
“From CEO level all the way down to the consumer level, you’re seeing people just retrenching right now. I think when the rules of the game change every day, or every hour, that’s just human nature. Right now, nobody’s making any big decisions.”
With its more than $56 billion in managed assets, including holdings in real estate, equities and market securities, RSA is among the largest public pension funds in the world. Largely due to the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs, however, particularly on Canada and Mexico, the stock market has experienced significant volatility, with the Dow Jones falling more than 400 points Tuesday, and the S&P 500 dropping 0.7%.
“So the long and short of it, we’ve got some bullets to shoot but we’re not really ready to pull the trigger on adding to equity,” Green cautioned.
David Bronner, who has lead RSA as its CEO for more than 50 years, concurred with Green.
“Right now, we’re absolutely flying blind, in my opinion,” Bronner said.
Bronner also shared some harsh words for the Trump administration, particularly on the newly established Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which has spearheaded the termination of tens of thousands of federal jobs and cut billions of dollars in government spending. Led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, DOGE has also eyed making major cuts to Social Security, which Musk has alleged to be rampant with fraud, having claimed recipients aged 150 years old and older are receiving payments.
Those claims have been shown to be without merit, however, and likely attributable to Social Security’s software and record keeping. The Social Security Administration also does not issue payments to anyone on their roles over the age of 115.
“What scares me is you’re making changes without any thought (of) how does it affect the public, or in the case of trying to get up to $2 trillion in savings, making up facts,” Bronner said. “Stating to the public that you have Social Security people that are 125 or 150 years old still getting a check is just nonsense.”
Bronner also took aim at Musk’s efforts to cut other benefit programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which a significant share of Alabamians are enrolled in.
“You really want to talk about Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security like Musk is talking about now?” he said. “He doesn’t understand that those are the three pillars of the whole country; half of Alabama, 40%, depends on those three things.”
Trump met with top CEOs Tuesday during a meeting of the Business Roundtable in Washington, and reportedly defended his tariffs on imported goods and services. A 20% tariff on Chinese goods was enacted on March 4, and 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico are set to be imposed April 2.
Green, speaking on Trump’s meeting with business leaders, predicted the president would “start feeling the heat,” and potentially walk back some of his trade policies. For the immediate future, however, RSA Board members seemed to agree that the market conditions were not ideal for major investments.
“Until there’s certainty, there’s going to be continued volatility across the spectrum of the markets; it has impacts, and we’re watching those closely,” said Alabama Finance Director Bill Poole, who also sits on the RSA Board. “Certainly we understand the impact that that has on the investments of RSA.”