Rates

On Thursday morning, Travelers reported EPS of $3.32 versus $2.13 YoY and a headline beat versus analyst consensus of $3.29, in part driven by low catastrophe losses (thanks to an aggregate reinsurance recovery).

The broker said that Boeing claims of up to $1.5bn had prompted rates to surge.

Demotech has cautioned that up to 18 of the 46 Floridians it rates are at risk of downgrade.

Unmodelled cat losses are prompting a reassessment of pricing, the broker said.

The equity research group says international P&C losses look likely to exceed earlier expectations.

The broker said a significant loss could trigger a drop in capacity, which is at an all-time high.

Rates increases of 25 percent and far higher are set to accelerate in the coming year.

Relatively contained gains on pricing contrast with bullish views on reinsurers' prospects.

Rate growth fails to meet early expectations but the market is clearly tightening in aggregate.

The Californian specialty property insurer's scaled-up programme provides coverage of up to $1.2bn for earthquake events.

Strong balance-sheet growth, marginal operating performance, favourable business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management were factors in the outlook.

Modest gains follow a broadly flat European cat treaty market for 1 January.