Performance of European stocks overshadows their US and Bermudian counterparts in 2005

More than $15bn in new capital has already been raised; $9bn of this money will be used to support the new start ups.

After posting some surprisingly robust gains over the last month and a half (in the face of some of the biggest natural catastrophe losses the industry has seen), many of the insurance and reinsurance stocks monitored by WIR , have fallen back somewhat over the period under review (the fortnight ending 8 December). It is not difficult to see why. Some companies like Aspen, which fell by 10.1%, announced an increase in their estimates of Hurricane Katrina losses and approached the market for more capital. The announcement of initial estimates of losses due to Hurricane Wilma, which struck in the fourth quarter, unsettled investor sentiment further.