For the 100 largest public-employee retirement systems in the country, total holdings and investments totaled $2.8 trillion in the third quarter of 2012, an increase of 2.6 percent from $2.7 trillion last quarter, reaching the highest level since the second quarter of 2008. There was a year-to-year increase of 10.0 percent from $2.5 trillion in the third quarter of 2011. Earnings on investments totaled $108.0 billion, showing gains following last quarter’s losses of $16.3 billion.