Posted on 10/03/2008 1:29:24 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Shares Of The Hartford Plunge 32%
Waning Confidence Also Affects MetLife, Prudential
By DIANE LEVICK
October 3, 2008
It was a blood bath Thursday for shares of The Hartford, while MetLife Inc. and Prudential also plummeted on fears that the tumult in financial markets could push some insurers over the edge.
Some of the investor panic Thursday followed a comment Wednesday from Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., that a well-known but unnamed insurer was on the brink of bankruptcy.
A spokesman for Reid, the Senate majority leader, issued a statement Thursday backtracking on the comment, and The Hartford, Prudential and MetLife said they're not near bankruptcy.
But shares of The Hartford Financial Services Group plunged 32 percent Thursday anyway, closing down $12.20 at $25.91. The company has lost 54 percent of its value this week so far.
MetLife Inc., which has major operations in Bloomfield, fell $7.19, or 15 percent, Thursday to close at $40.96 a share. And Prudential Financial Inc., which bases its retirement business in Hartford, dropped $7.15, or 11 percent, to finish at $57.65 a share.
(Excerpt) Read more at courant.com ...
Ping!
He, like President opened their mouths to get the House to vote yes on the Bailout.
Is he up for re-election?
Dunno, but credit isn’t frozen. Scare tactics work well on sheep.
Being an irresponsible blabbermouth is part of the liberal playbook. Don’t forget that Chuck Schumer’s shooting his mouth off caused a run on Indymac bank and contributed to its collapse. They don’t give a damn about anything if they can score a political point.
If bailout bill won't pass again in the House, maybe Obama steps out and shoot down a major bank.:-)
How the HELL do you retract a statement like that? It was stated in a matter of fact manner. The only way out is to say “I freaking lied k?”
These two guys are unreal.
Bin Laden said before he wants to bankrupt the US....Osama could sit around and play Xbox all day and let these MORONS take down the economy for him.
Harry is not only malevolent and funny looking, he's stupid.
How many runs on financial institutions is Harry allowed to start? ‘Sounds like another commercial on the dems responsibility in this time of economic turmoil.
Totally irresponsible!
Bin Laden couldn’t kill the US from the outside, but Obama bin Biden will finish the job from the inside.
Somedays its good to be a privately held firm, isn’t it Mr. State Farm? :D
LOL, I can imagine. State Farm’s $104 Billion in Assets are probably mouth watering to those short term money shredding jackals.
You may not know this, but Senators are immune from charges of insider trading by virtue of their position.
The DemocRATS are coloring outside the lines with the Shumer/Reid crap fest though.
I gotta ask. Where’s the transparency if investors are hearing about the state of their investments from some senator? That’s more damaging than anything, the fact a Senator is spreading rumors. The dems want this sucker to tank hard. They want a crash. They want an event that says, you know, we need to try this socialism thing. Right wing skeptics are helping them.
How do you know? Have you tried to qualify for a car loan in the last month?
So what do these institutions typically invest in that they lost that much value?
They had to much money laying around, so many of the insurance companies opened up banks and investment arms. I assume that they were lending to the shaky real estate brokers and their investments value is welting. The publicly traded companies more than likely got taken over by the get rich quick crowd that deviated from the typical stale business practices of these usually rock steady firms.
Oh yeahhhhhh.
Before going to Iraq I needed a bank that I could access from wherever I came back to the States at. I figured since just about every town has a State Farm Agent I'd have a banking representative no matter where I relocated to. I also wanted a fiscally conservative bank which wasn't heavily involved in the mortgage or securities casino. I went with State Farm Bank for these reason and because their financials were excellent compared to existing commercial banks.
I wrote State Farm last week about their exposure to mortgage and financial market loses and asked who underwrote their banking operations. They replied their bank was a wholly-owned subsidiary of their automotive insurance company. I.e., cash positive, with checks coming in every month. Phew.
This is great news to a lot of us Floridians who have difficulty in getting homeowner insurance from companies who have pulled out of the Florida market.
Are you gloating?
State Farm did all it could to further sink the policy holders in New Orleans and other cities in the aftermath of Katrina.
They have no reputation left.
Have you heard of or looked at Universal Insurance? They moved into the Florida market when the others pulled out.
http://www.uihna.com/en-US/Default.aspx
Loose Lips Schumer and Reid have a lot of explaining to do.
My home insurance is with The Hartford. Darn!
When Harry reid said what he said, I first thought he might have been refering to the Hartford as I have a friend who is pretty high up in that organization. Looks like the damage has been done.
Good time to pick up some cheap stocks
I believe that is an elk. A Roosevelt Elk, to boot!
Reid and Schumer are veritable wrecking balls of the financial and equity markets. What an idiot.
No, it’s true. They can’t be sued either, of course.
Now they are prohibited from acting directly on that knowledge by buying or shorting stocks - but it’s no stretch to imagine they will have their wife or brother in law make the “appropriate” investment, wink wink.
Whatever it is Reid baited it into his sights.
Anyone sending FOIA inquiries to Dirty Harry to backup his "insurance" words?
Why would you say that? The only thing I saw post-Katrina was a bunch of people trying to use the court system to turn their ordinary homeowners' insurance policies into flood insurance policies. State Farm and others rightfully fought that.
When my parked vehicle got whacked last spring, the other driver's insurer (State Farm) was very quick to pay out, no questions asked.
Shareholders of the Hartford should form a class action and sue Mr. Reid.
Yes, I have. It took about 20 minutes. We talked with several other buyers. No financing problems for them either.
You might want to call your banker and ask what is going on in lending in your area.
If these guys put enough coins in the Congressional bucket, they can get "bailed out" too. Hey, it's ONLY money - right?
Wasn’t the whole controversy over whether the damage was wind/rain caused or flooding caused? I thought the official decision was that the destruction was by flooding, but State Farm and others were insisting it was wind/rain damage from the hurricane. (shrugs)
Is Reid “playing the market”?
For capital gains?
For political benefit?
For both?
He’s putting a lot of people’s money at risk.
If he’s doing it for personal profit...
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