Property-casualty insurance stocks last week declined 25.8 percent on average compared to a 36 percent drop for life insurers and a 19.5 percent decline for banks, Bank of America reported.

Analyst Alain Karaogian noted that the stocks were affected by the fears sweeping life insurers "even though the balance sheets, investment portfolios and liabilities of P&C insurers are a lot safer."

He mentioned that the only stock that appreciated last week was insurance broker A.J. Gallagher which rose 9.8 percent.

This week, Mr. Karaogian wrote stocks "will be affected by efforts by governments around the world trying to restore confidence in the market. We continue to believe that many P&C stocks present very attractive opportunities with companies with strong balance sheets and limited investment portfolio risk trading at significant discounts to book value." Last week, he wrote was the worst he could remember.

In addition to AJG, those insurance sector stocks which performed best last week, were those that had the least losses. Aon (-9.3 percent), Marsh & McLennan (-11.1 percent), Selective (-11.5 percent), Odyssey Re (-11.7 percent)

The bottom 5 performers last week were XL Capital (-63.8 percent), Horace Mann (-54.8 percent), CNA Financial (-42.4 percent), American Financial (-41.4 percent) and AIG (-39.6 percent).

Special Reports /

P-C Stocks On Avg. Off 25.8 % Last Week

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