Shares of the Hartford Financial Services Group rose sharply Monday after the big property and life insurance company asserted that it had more than sufficient capital, even if market conditions deteriorate further.Hartford lost more than half its stock market value on Thursday after the company posted a surprisingly large quarterly loss, raising concerns on Wall Street that it might need to raise more capital. On Oct. 6, Hartford received a $2.5 billion cash infusion from the German insurer Allianz.
And what "please don't start a run" statement would be complete without this classic line?
The Hartford is financially strong and well-capitalized," Ramani Ayer, Hartford's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
Why is it that this same line has so badly failed many other firms and seems to have stabilized things for Hartford? Trust. Pure and simple. Firms store it up in good times with transparency, open access for investors, a lack of accounting complexity and bookkeeping games. They then get to cash it at times like these. At least, that's what their IR people are telling us.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2008 1:31PM
1st
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2008 1:38PM
Based on the "Well capitalized" statement Hartford will fail by Jan 1. 2009...
Count'em who used this line before...IndyMac, WM, Merrill, Wachovia...
Fuck these pieces of shit. And any company headed by someone named Ramani - what the fuck - is the ayatollah's bro?
Short'em to zero.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2008 2:05PM
after the "cleansing " of wall street,I don't think you'll be seeing too much of this kind of bahaviour from ceo's anymore. BUY,BUY,BUY.
Posted by NAS Keflavik boi , Nov 03, 2008 2:12PM
Insurers, unlike the fucknut banks, are still actually subject to meaningful regulation. That's why they're in better shape.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2008 2:16PM
@4...three letters...
A
I
G
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2008 2:16PM
@4...three letters...
A
I
G
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2008 2:17PM
thats 6 letters. fucko.
Posted by NAS Keflavik boi , Nov 03, 2008 2:18PM
@ 5 & 6 --
AIG FinPro wasn't an insurer.
Posted by Investorcluzo , Nov 03, 2008 2:49PM
@4 - insurance co's do face more regulation, but investors could still get kicked in the teeth. the holdco's aren't facing regs, it's the opco's. if you own a policy you're safe (up to $300k), but if you own the stock, you're naked.
1) as the double poster @5/6 pointed out, aig debunked the regulation protection theory and, 2) as @nas points out, fin products wasn't an insurer, but was a part of the larger entity.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2008 5:06PM
As HIG used to say. "Bring it on." Or who has two centuries of experience? Idiots.
Posted by guest , Nov 03, 2008 5:26PM
I realize that there are still a bunch of you over here from Yahoo finance, but if you mail-room goons would learn how to read earnings and financial statement reports (not to mention independent analysis) you'd realize that HIG is more than fine. Very little residential mortgate exposure and almost no CDS exposure. AIG was a unique case in the insurance industry. Insurance companies also don't have/need the deal flow that a brokerage firm does.
The stock was down due to a bad conference call. They beat estimates.
All you idiots (@2, @5) need to worry about is not fucking up the alphabet and putting the letters in the right boxes.
Posted by guest , Nov 04, 2008 12:00AM
suckers rally - power spike
http://tinyurl.com/6osngs