insurance

Much love to my employer, and a few doubles for my 401(k)...in less than 2 MONTHS!

Making Genworth's collapse all the more painful was the surge in insurance industry stock prices last Wednesday after a report that the Treasury was prepared to give some large life insurers an injection of government aid. The rally sent up shares of MetLife(MET) and Prudential(PRU), mega-insurers that have long had bank holding-company status, as well as Lincoln National(LNC), Hartford Financial(HIG) and Genworth, which jumped on the bank-buying bandwagon during the height of the credit crisis last year. For more, click here.

In the Thursday "Sell Block" segment, Cramer recited the mantra "when facts change, we change our minds," as he released life insurers Principal Financial (PFG), Prudential (PRU), Lincoln National (LNC) and Hartford Group (HIG) from solitary confinement.

BankingMyWay

Cramer said he doesn't want to own any of these names, but with the news that the government's TARP plan will be extended to the insurers, they're no longer toxic.

Cramer said there's no doubt these companies made a lot of terrible decisions, but TARP solves many of their problems and it's time to stop hating them. ("Mad Money Recap," 4-9-09)

"If we can take the pressure off this group, including MetLife (MET) and Pru (PRU) and Manulife (MFC) and Allstate (ALL), it would eliminate a second albatross -- mark to cash flow (as I like to call it) will take the pressure off banks with performing loans that had to be marked lower because of the inflexibility of the accounting system." ("Next, Fix the Insurers," 4-8-09)

Lincoln National (LNC), Prudential (PRU), MetLife (MET), Hartford (HIG) and Principal Financial Group (PFG) are right back on the red-hot griddle, and as a bull on the way down, this group is the only group that can truly shake my convictions. Given the exposure these firms have to bedrock principles, payoffs in annuities and life insurance, it is vital that some branch of the Treasury come on and say, "Look, your contractual obligations will be made good, regardless of the ramifications of the companies themselves." These deals have to be like pension benefit guarantees, but the government doesn't seem to be aware of it.

Makes money

Cramer: Bull Within a Bear?: Jim Cramer says we can have a bull market within this bear if we continue to address the trouble spots like banks and FASB accounting rules.
Click here to watch the video.

Cramer: Insurers Will Fall: Jim Cramer says that the plethora of single digit stocks is a confidence eroder in the market and the insurers should be next on the chopping block. Real Money TV viewers get Cramer's videos first and commercial free!

Click here to watch the video.

“Broke the low, bounced. Meaningless. Horrible day. Not a lot of players because this is a big vacation week. However, the damage is stark and, as my friend Doug Kass reminds us, we need Jack Bauer.
As someone who cannot short, as someone who feels the pain of the longs, I so did not want to be right in my last series of shows and in my articles lately about how bad this market is and how I think it isn't done.
Look, you cannot get a "bottom" when the fates of Prudential (PRU) Allstate (ALL), Hartford Financial (HIG) Lincoln National (LNC) and Principal (PFG) hang in the balance. You can't get a bottom when Citigroup (C) tosses and turns and flops and chops, and the General Motors (GM) equity could be crammed down to AIG (AIG) status. You can't get a "fear" bottom when the fear may not be strong enough.
Today was a miserable day. Miserable. I took a rare day off from my show just to take a day off -- nothing scheduled for vacation until the last week in June -- and I had a sickening feeling it would be miserable.
And here it is.
Someone will say we didn't take out the lows.
I say "blah blah blah." Call me when the insurance/banking situation is stabilized more and I will take it from there.
The panic is not in.
The slow strangle is.”

Been sucky

squeezed on short play

Down...

Lost money