Sector stocks resilient in face of catastrophe and investment losses

The two week period ending 6th November represented something of a recovery for the insurance and reinsurance stocks tracked by WIR, despite a spate of dismal third quarter results marked by an almost standardised mixture of catastrophe, equity and impaired investment losses. While some stocks such as AIG and CNA Financial, continued to suffer significant falls, many others such as Aviva in the UK and Odyssey Re, IPC Holdings and Montpelier Re in Bermuda, posted significant gains in a period of substantial economic, not to mention investor, uncertainty.