Nicolai Tangen, Managing Director of NBIM, during the Norges Bank climate conference in Oslo, Norway, October 21, 2025.
Naina Helen Jama | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund – the world’s largest – said on Thursday its investment portfolio posted a $30 billion loss in the third quarter as rising interest rates dampened returns on its bond holdings.
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the $2.3 trillion fund, said the accounting return for the period was a loss of 278 billion crowns ($29.7 billion). Around 70% of NBIM’s bond portfolio is allocated to government bonds, with the remainder invested in corporate debt.
The third quarter was marked by a rout of the global bond market. Government bond yields jumped as major central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, began rate-hiking cycles and concerns about inflation and government debt levels grew.
NBIM’s fixed income investments returned a negative 3.5%, with fund management saying this was a key factor in the overall slowdown.
“The fund’s performance was almost flat, ending slightly negative as rising interest rates led to lower results on our fixed income investments,” Trond Grande, deputy managing director of NBIM, said in a statement.
Fixed income makes up just over a quarter of the fund’s entire portfolio, with NBIM invested in 1,664 bonds across 51 countries.
Last month, NBIM said it wanted to reduce its holdings in the U.S. Treasury as part of a broader plan to reduce its allocation to government debt.
Equities, which represent 72% of the sovereign wealth fund’s investments, returned 0.5% to the fund in the third quarter.
The fund has small stakes in around 7,100 companies in most countries. With stakes in 1.5% of all listed companies globally, it is the world’s largest investor.
Stock markets were turbulent in the three months leading up to September. Wall Street’s major averages ended the third quarter in mixed territory. The S&P 500 Index gained 2.03%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.9% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished the quarter up 2.2%.
The average change in the three indexes was just 0.6%, marking a slowdown in the recovery that had seen double-digit gains in the previous quarter.
NBIM is an investor in America’s largest companies, with its top holdings including a $65.4 billion stake in Nvidiaas well as positions in Apple, Alphabet And Microsoft.
Its positions in the world’s largest companies give NBIM influence both in terms of voting power and in shaping investment trends.
“Stock returns were also close to zero, but there were big differences between sectors. Energy companies rose the most, while interest-rate-sensitive sectors such as utilities and real estate fell,” Grande said Thursday.
Energy stocks benefited from rising oil prices in the third quarter as the war between the United States and Iran continued, said NBIM, which has stakes in various energy majors including Exxon Mobile, Shell And Chevron.
Over the summer, NBIM CEO Nicolai Tangen told CNBC that investors shouldn’t expect a continuation of the bumper gains seen in the stock market in the first half of this year.
“Of course, we shouldn’t expect the same kind of returns that we’ve seen over the last six months,” he said at the time.
The fund generated a 12.95% return in the first half and a record first-half profit close to $185 billion. It also invests in real estate and renewable energy infrastructure, which returned 0.4% and 7.5%, respectively, in the third quarter.
Norway created its sovereign wealth fund in 1998 to invest the country’s oil revenues.
Gn bussni
