Ohio State’s long-term investment pool outperformed the broader financial market in the third quarter of the fiscal year, showing a small gain as major indices took bigger losses.

The long-term investment pool, in which all of the university’s endowments are invested, gained four tenths of 1 percent in value over the three-month period from January to March, Chief Investment Officer Jonathan Hook reported to the Board of Trustees’ Development and Investment Committee Thursday.

Compared to the 9.3 percent loss incurred by a benchmark combination of stock market indices over the same period, the performance of OSU’s investment pool was “fabulous,” board member Walden O’Dell said.

The long-term investment pool, valued at $1.5 billion, grew by 6.9 percent in March after losing 2.8 percent in January and 3.4 percent in March. By comparison, the benchmark combination of indices gained 6.8 percent in March after losing 7.2 percent in January and 8.4 percent in February – a net loss of 9.3 percent.

“In a down month, we want to be down less than the market, which we were in both [January and February], and in an up market, we want to be participating,” Hook said.

After hearing Hook’s report, the committee members formally approved Hook’s investment policy, as well as his request to pursue the addition of a limited quantity of futures options, a certain type of financial instrument, to the investment portfolio.

These types of instruments can hedge against market risk, providing “portfolio insurance,” Hook said.

Although the portfolio performed relatively well in the third quarter, the future is still uncertain.

“We still have a ways to go and work to do to get [the portfolio] where we want it to be,” Hook said.

With the downfall of Bernie Madoff still fresh in the public memory, trustee Robert Schottenstein sought Hook’s reassurance that the long-term investment pool was protected from scam artists.

“I can’t say 100 percent that we don’t have any issues,” Hook said, but “we haven’t seen any issues.”

“I think we’re doing the right things, we’re looking where we should be looking, so I feel very positive about it,” he said, although “we could open up the Wall Street Journal tomorrow and find something we didn’t know about.”

Dan McKeever can be reached at [email protected].