Deteriorating underwriting results and declining investment returns led to a decline of more than 50 percent in the U.S. property-casualty industry's net income for the first half of 2008, according to A.M. Best.

In a special report released yesterday, Oldwick, N.J.-based Best said the U.S. p-c net income was at $15.9 billion for the first half of the year. For the 12 months ended June 30, Best said annualized after-tax return on equity fell to 9.5 percent, down from 14.2 percent for the 12 months ended June 30, 2007.

First-half 2008 net written premiums dropped by $1.6 billion, or 0.7 percent, to $224.3 billion compared to 2007.

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