As rating agencies recently affirmed their negative outlook on commercial lines due in part to soft-market pricing, a new Towers Watson survey shows that rates have been flattening for nine months.

Recent commercial-lines reports point to a slowing of the prolonged soft market, but experts are hesitant to declare the onset of a hard market or even to guess whether the price stabilization will last.

Standard and Poor’s has revised its outlook on nine Japanese insurers due to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, while Moody’s says current loss estimates by two reinsurers are credit negative for that sector.

The failure of Congress to approve long-term renewal of a revamped National Flood Insurance Program could jeopardize the participation of private carriers.

Agent associations joined the National Crop Insurance Services in criticizing the Obama administration's decision to cut the federal crop insurance program by $6 billion over the next 10 years.