Financials Down Amid Fears About Insurance Losses -- Financials Roundup

Banks, lenders and other financial companies declined amid fears of massive insurance losses in Houston and the surrounding areas.

The city of Houston was devastated, with images showing entire city blocks were completely submerged. "Uncertainty surrounding losses from Harvey could pressure property-and-casualty carriers in the near term," said analysts at brokerage Morgan Stanley, in a note to clients. "Flood losses could dwarf wind losses, impacting commercial players more than personal."

Among publicly traded companies, "The Hartford and Travelers are top Texas commercial insurers; Allstate, Berkshire Hathaway and Progressive are the largest personal carriers."

Data provider CoreLogic estimated that 52% of the residential and commercial properties in Houston that are at high or moderate risk of flooding due to Hurricane Harvey are not in federally designated flood zones.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 28, 2017 17:02 ET (21:02 GMT)