Insurance Stocks Up In Down April Mkt.

Insurance stocks were the place to be invested in April 2002, a month that was widely reported to have been the worst April for the general market in 30 years!

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4.40 percent, the S&P 500 drooped 6.15 percent, and the tech-laden NASDAQ Composite ended down another 8.51 percent in chaotic trading. In the meantime, the insurance sectors beat the odds and moved to the upside!

The life and health sector led the way with a 5.17 percent advance, with 20 of the 27 issues moving up.

Property-casualty stocks stayed positive with an almost 3 percent gain, as 35 stocks moved up while only eight fell. 21st Century Insurance Group came to life with a 17.47 percent gain to 21.25.

Some insurance stock aficionados think majority-owner AIG might be readying a bid for the shares of TW it does not yet already own. Another possibility would be the sale of AIGs controlling interest to another insurer. It has long been speculated that sooner or later AIG would either become the 100 percent owner of TW, or divest itself of its majority position.

The broker group moved up 3.61 percent, with four winners and two losers. Willis Group Holdings Ltd. was best after an 18.42 percent surge to 29.25. Next best was Richmond broker Hilb, Rogal & Hamilton with a 17.88 percent advance to 36.78. A.J. Gallagher was a third double-digit winner after a 10.16 percent rise to 36.10.

The multiline group, the home of some of our largest companies, generated a 3.39 percent gain. There were eight advances and only one loser–AIG, which was off 4.19 percent to 69.12. On the plus side, institutional demand for Allmerica Financial Corp. generated a double-digit gain, as AFC moved ahead 11.16 percent to 49.91.

Only the financial services group, off a shocking 9.36 percent, joined the ongoing April disaster in the general market, with two advances and five declines.

Speaking of carnage, I have reviewed recent comments by the second-richest man in the world, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren E. Buffett, to some 14,000 shareholders who made the pilgrimage to Omaha to hear Mr. Buffett prophesize at the annual meeting for shareholders.

This year, in addition to his usual and detailed comments about Berkshire Hathaway, Mr. Buffett treated his faithful to a terrifying prediction. “We are going to have something in the way of a major nuclear event in this country,” stated the billionaire. “It will happen. Whether it will happen in 10 years or 10 minutes or 50 years.Its virtually a certainty.” Mr. Buffett added that New York City and Washington, D.C. would be the most likely targets.

Will the predictions of the “Oracle of Omaha” help spur passage of terrorist reinsurance legislation now stalled in Congress? Stay tuned.

Thomas K. Meakin is affiliated with LIM Systems International in Voorhees, N.J. Stock results are supplied by The Firemark Group in Morristown, N.J.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, May 27 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.

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Insurance Stocks Up In Down April Mkt.

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