Income

Prudential Financial announced quarterly earnings that exceeded analyst estimates. Second quarter net income for the company was $163 million. Prudential's individual annuity business posted strong results. Individual annuity gross sales increased 21 percent to $3.4 billion for the quarter. Adjusted operating earnings in the individual annuity business were $432 million. Source: Bloomberg Full Story

A recent Wall Street Journal article discusses the range of issues that bond or fixed income investors face in the current environment. The issue is critical for most retirees and near-retirees as they would typically migrate towards the income producing and low volatility aspects of bonds with a portion of their assets. The current environment is tricky, however, since the future path of interest rates and inflation is so uncertain. Some of the key risks that fixed income investors currently...

The life settlement market is benefiting from the fallout of the financial crisis. The supply side of the settlement industry is affected by consumers who have suffered through the crisis. Many are looking to raise cash through the sale of assets such as life insurance policies. Wall Street is pumping the demand side of the securitization market as investors seek alternative assets that are not correlated to the broader equity and fixed income markets. Source: Reuters Full Story

Life and annuity insurer MetLife reported strong operating results for the second quarter. Earnings from operations exceeded analyst forecasts and came in at $723 million for the quarter. Derivatives losses of $1.8 billion affected reported net income. MetLife's variable annuity business is strong with deposits increasing 27% to a record $4.5 billion in the second quarter of 2009. This stands in contrast to rival Hartford Financial which reported variable annuity deposits of $701 million for...