By Samantha Marcus, includes “… State officials disclosed the fund held $76.3 billion in assets at the end of the October, its highest value in over two years. … A rating agency said this summer it predicts New Jersey's pension backslide could be turning around. … But S&P Global opined in August that it doesn't expect the ratio to slide further. The state and local pension fund has more than $168 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, when measured under national accounting standards. State rules for estimating the debt put the figure much lower.”