The North American insurance index compiled by investment banks Stonybrook Capital and Weild &amp; Co rose just 0.3% last week despite gains across 10 of the 12 groups in the composite.\nThe S&amp;P 500 benchmark added 0.6% in the week, closing 26% above its April 8 low.\nThe Nasdaq-100 index rose 1.3% driven by better-than-expected earnings for tech stocks, also setting a new high.\nMeanwhile, the small-cap Russell 2000 added 0.23% in the week to Friday.\nIn contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.07% in the week.\nStonybrook Capital and Weild &amp; Co noted that consumer price inflation was slightly higher than expected at 2.7%. However, this negative surprise was offset by news that the producer price index – the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge – rose only 2.3%, beating the 2.5% forecast.\n“At the same time, retail sales surpassed expectations as the consumer economy continues to rumble along, and the U.S. Treasury benefited almost $27 billion in higher tariff revenues in June,” Stonybrook-Weild said.\n“Looking ahead to the August 1 tariff deadline, the market seems increasingly conditioned to tariff talk: unless there is a material negative surprise in the rate of inflation, we suspect that any more shocks will be met with a sigh,” they added.\nIn the North American insurance composite, advancers led the decliners by 87 to 23.\nThe two best-performing groups were standard commercial insurers, up 2.8%, and micro cap insurers, up 2.3%.\nAmong the former, sector bellwether and cohort leader Travelers led the gains with a 4.5% rise in its share price, after the company reported a 9.9 percent point improvement in its quarterly combined ratio to 90.3%.\nSelective registered the second largest rise in the group, with its shares climbing 3.8% in the week.\nCincinnati Financial rose 2.3% while shares in The Hartford increased 1.6%.\nMicro cap insurers and title insurers were the next best-performing groups, adding 2.3% and 1.6%, respectively, followed by personal lines insurers, up 0.9% on average.\nAt the other end of the spectrum, the only two groups in the composite to end in negative territory were reinsurers, down 0.5%, and global P&amp;C insurers, down 0.4%.\nAmong the former, leader Everest Group recorded the largest fall, losing 1.9%.\nGreenlight Capital Re fell 1.5% in the week, while RenaissanceRe slid 0.6%.\nIn contrast, Conduit Holdings rose 5.8% and SiriusPoint added 3.3%.\nChubb was the largest faller among global P&amp;C insurers, with its shares down 1.4%.\nAIG and Berkshire Hathaway ended the week down 0.7% and 0.3%, respectively.\nMeanwhile, the group of global brokers ended the week up 0.3% on average.\nShares in Arthur J Gallagher rose 0.5% while both Marsh McLennan and WTW added 0.3%.\nAon eked out a gain of 0.1%.\nMarsh McLennan on Thursday reported quarterly adjusted earnings per share of $2.72, up 11% year on year and ahead of analysts’ consensus. Its underlying revenue rose 4%.\nThe Stonybrook-Weild North American Insurance composite is up 3.9% on a year-to-date basis.\nIn this article, we have included a selection of industry comp tables published in full by Stonybrook and Weild &amp; Co in their weekly update.

Reinsurers and global P&C insurers weighed on US insurance composite last week

The North American insurance index rose 0.3% last week despite gains in 10 of 12 groups, with standard commercial insurers and micro cap insurers leading the way. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 indices also rose, while the Dow Jones fell slightly. The article highlights inflation data, retail sales, and tariff revenues, with key insurance companies like Travelers and Chubb showing significant gains or losses.