With deterioration in profits assured for the final weeks of 2008, insurers may finally stop cutting prices, according to a brokerage firm analysis.

Lockton, in its Fall 2008 Market Update, said as carriers enter the year end they face "ominous" circumstances, and it is "certain" that the industry combined ratio, which was at 102.2 in the first half, will continue deteriorating.

While the situation is not desperate, because insurers are capital-rich, "declining profits, deteriorating underwriting results, shrinking capacity, the credit market challenges, a slowing economy and specific problems at some insurers are creating a volatile mix of issues that could pressure insurance prices in the coming weeks and months," the report stated.

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