NU Stock Analyst
This column reviews August results for the industry's stocks.
Last month's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center will likely make for a rocky ride for many insurance stocks in September. I'll have a full recap of the aftermath soon, following up on continuing news coverage in National Underwriter and on NationalUnderwriter.com.
August 2001 was the closest to being an identical twin with the month before that this column has ever written into the record book.
That previous month, July 2001, recorded 45 winners and 69 losers. August had 44 winners and 69 losers. There were a few issues that ended where they began, but they dont affect this comparison.
Industry stocks were down in a remarkable July-August stalemate. But they were by no means down and out, as was the case for the general market in August.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 5.5% last month, while the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index fell 6.5%, and the NASDAQ Composite was much worse for the wear by almost 11%.
For the record, the 116 stocks we priced in August were down 2.45% for the month, which was fractionally worse than the 1.78% loss registered in July.
The service companies–the smallest group–almost broke even. After that all sectors ended down–some more than others.
