After upswing, Alaska Permanent Fund loses nearly $3 billion in stock market slide

The Alaska Permanent Fund has lost nearly $3 billion, or about 4 percent of its value, in a two-and-a-half-week span amid the recent stock market slide, according to figures provided by the fund.

The fund's value was $63.8 billion when markets closed Monday. That was down $2.7 billion from its recent high of $66.5 billion in late January.

The fund is still up over the long term: It was valued at $59.8 billion at the end of the last fiscal year June 30.

The fund is made up of a diverse mix of investments — stocks, bonds, real estate, private equity and hedge funds — originally seeded with oil revenue.

It has paid cash dividends to individual Alaskans for decades. Lawmakers are now eyeing its earnings to help prop up the state budget, which has a $2.5 billion hole stemming from a crash in oil prices and the decades-long trend of dwindling oil production on the North Slope.