For the 100 largest public-employee retirement systems in the country, total holdings and investments were up two consecutive quarters. With a quarter-to-quarter increase of 5.5 percent, total holdings and investments rose from $2,498.6 billion in the third quarter of 2010 to $2,636.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, reaching the highest level since the second quarter of 2008. Total holdings and investments continued to show a year-to-year increase for the fifth consecutive quarter, rising 7.6 percent from $2,451.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009.