US P&c companies distance themselves from AIG and life insurers

Insurance and reinsurance stock prices continued their process of recovery (which had started a month earlier) over the four week period ending 30 April. That the values of sector stocks (with the noted exceptions of XL Capital, Hannover Re and Korean Re) are still below what they were at the beginning of the year, despite strong gains over the last two months, indicates just how hard stocks were hit by the crisis of confidence in the financial services sector in the early months of 2009.