Fitch: P&C Insurance Market Remains Challenged

NEW YORK (AP) — Fitch Ratings said in new report Thursday that the U.S. property and casualty insurance sector remains challenged following sharp performance and investment declines in 2008.

And barring a significant turnaround, the ratings agency expects the market will experience two consecutive years of negative premium growth.

"While some market observers professed that the 2008 underwriting losses and reductions in capital would spur a reversal of negative pricing trends, the broader primary insurance market continues to see premium rate declines in the first half of 2009," wrote analyst James Auden in the report. ...