ハートフォード生命保険(NYSE: HIG)の株価、とうとう5ドル台。
Insurance shares slump, with Hartford down 29 pct
年初から株価が92パーセント下落……(汗)。
Insurance shares slump, with Hartford down 29 pct
Shares of Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and other life insurers fell Wednesday as investors grew more concerned about the sector's large exposure to commercial mortgage investments and the variable annuity business.
Shares of Hartford Financial fell $2.76, or 29 percent, to $6.88, after hitting a multiyear low of $6.77 earlier in the session. The stock is down 92 percent so far this year.
Already hit hard by severe losses on their investment portfolios, insurance companies nationwide continue to face challenges as they attempt to convince investors that their capital reserves are safe.
For some, including Hartford, that means buying up thrifts as a means to qualify for receiving funds under the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program - the $700 billion bailout fund.
"We have a frozen credit market, and in a frozen credit market when these companies are denied access to the liquidity that they need to refinance their short-term debt, they are dead in a matter of hours," said Tony Plath, a finance professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "They are running out of money, that's the big picture."
Within the past year, insurers have been under pressure to maintain solid capital positions to avoid damaging downgrades by ratings agencies. Keeping high ratings is key for insurers because lower ratings can mean higher costs, and in some cases, even a loss of business.
"One of the things that is characteristic of the environment we are in now is there seems to be a lot of extreme reaction in terms of opinions about whether some company is properly capitalized and if not, how close to the edge it is," said Steven Weisbart, chief economist at the Insurance Information Institute, a New York-based industry group. "Most companies are in stronger shape than a few that tend to be in the headlines."
年初から株価が92パーセント下落……(汗)。