CHEYENNE - The value of Wyoming's investments stabilized in November after falling by roughly $1 billion in the previous two months, state officials said Thursday.

Figures released by the Wyoming State Treasurer's Office say that the market value of the state's investment portfolio was $9.8 billion at the end of November. That's up just slightly from its value at the end of October.

Wyoming State Treasurer Joe Meyer said the new figures are good news.

"It tells me we didn't have a significant drop in market between the end of October and the end of November," Meyer said. "And that's very encouraging because in the two months prior to that, we had a $300 million drop, and then a billion (dollar) drop."

Meyer's office handles permanent investments of money from mineral production in the state in addition to the worker's compensation pool and state agency operating funds. The state's public employee retirement system is separate.

Meyer said he doesn't believe it's possible to make any predictions based on November's figures.

"I think the market is so incredibly volatile now, bouncing up and down; it does it every day," Meyer said. "All you can conclude is that for the month of November, things remained relatively stable in our portfolio."

Meyer said Wyoming's investments are well-diversified. He said that about half of the billion-dollar decrease in the portfolio's market value is attributable to the decline in fixed-income investments, such as bonds, which will most likely continue to pay dividends if the state holds them to maturity.

The remaining $500 million or so of the decline in market value is in equities, such as stocks, where Meyer said the state's unrealized losses could be a problem depending on the performance of financial markets.

Nonetheless, Meyer said he regards the November figures as good news for the state.

"You've got to believe that maybe the actions of the (Federal Reserve Board) and other things with the Fed rate dropping down to zero and the rest are building up a little more confidence," Meyer said. He said it's possible that investors are beginning to believe that they're seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.

As of early this month, the market value of Wyoming's public employee pension fund was down 25 percent in the current financial crisis.

Thom Williams, executive director of the Wyoming State Retirement System, said early this month that the market value of the system's investments was about $4.7 billion as of the end of October, the latest figures then available. That was down from $6.2 billion at the end of June.

An attempt to reach Williams on Thursday to see if his office has compiled values through November was unsuccessful.

Williams has emphasized that the retirement system is having no trouble meeting its obligations to the roughly 19,000 retired public employees. He said the fund is currently taking in contributions from about 38,000 public employees.