Sector stocks benefit from SEC support for beleaguered financials

Insurance and reinsurance stocks staged their most concerted recovery in months during the fortnight ending 24th July. As usual, the marked improvement in the sector’s stock market prospects had very little do with developments within the sector itself. Much more important were the price of crude oil (which, right at the beginning of the period, reached an all time record of $147.00 a barrel) and investors’ perception of the prospects of the broader US financial services sector.