Workers compensation combined ratios remained unsustainably high in 2011, and investment returns were not high enough to generate sufficient operating returns, but premium growth in this line indicates that the worst of the recession has passed, and the industry remains well capitalized for the future, according to NCCI.

Switzerland's Zurich Insurance Group beat expectations on Thursday with a 78 percent rise in first-quarter profit, helped by fewer large natural catastrophes than the year before, and said premiums were set to rise.

One of the largest writers of homeowners insurance in Florida reports a 29 percent drop in first-quarter earnings.