PMI Group, Inc.’s (PMI) third quarter loss from continuing operations came in at $1.06 per share, much better than the Zacks Consensus estimated loss of $1.38. This was also better than the loss from continuing operations of $1.83 in the prior-year quarter.   Loss was primarily driven by continued high losses and loss adjustment expenses (LAE) in the U.S. Mortgage Insurance Operations. Premiums earned and investment income in the U.S. Mortgage Insurance Operations also decreased during the quarter.  Consolidated net premiums written for the third quarter of 2009 were $167.4 million, compared to $176.5 million in the prior-year quarter. The decreases were primarily due to lower levels of new insurance written and higher refunded premiums from rescissions of insurance previously written. Premiums earned for the reported quarter were $176.6 million, compared to $183.6 million in the prior-year quarter.   Losses and LAE, which include paid claims and ...

Two of the main banking regulators, the OCC and the OTS, jointly released data on mortgage performance in the second quarter today, and the news was not good. The report covers 34 million individual first mortgages totaling about $6 Trillion. All types of delinquencies were up, but most distressing was the information about serious delinquencies, or mortgages that are more than 60 days past due. They reached 5.3% of all mortgages, up from 4.7% in the first quarter, an increase of 11.5%. Foreclosures-in-process reached 2.9% of all mortgages, up from 2.4% in the first quarter -- a 16.2% increase. It didn’t matter which risk category of loan you looked at, delinquencies were going up everywhere. The percentage of prime mortgages that were delinquent rose 10.5% to 3.0%, and are up 13.0% from a year ago. Alt-A delinquencies rose 11.1% from the first quarter to hit 10.3%, and ...

Housing Market Showing Signs of Stability? Puh-lease!

The mainstream press would have us to believe a real estate market rebound is imminent. They keep glomming onto any data that shows the slightest sign of stability.

For instance, Bloomberg jumped all over the July 1 report from the National Association of Realtors that showed pending sales for previously owned homes rose for the fourth consecutive month. Other outlets had a field day with the news out of the Mortgage Bankers Association that refinancings hit a three-month high in early July. And ditto for the news that foreclosures dropped 11% in the second quarter.

But these “signs of stabilization” are bogus. Or to beg, borrow and steal from value-investing legend, Whitney Tilson, they are the “mother of all head fakes.”

Fact is, these short-term improvements were fabricated. They materialized because of temporary factors like the $8,000 first time homebuyer tax credit (set to expire November 30),

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The U.S. Housing Market: Three (More) Reasons Real Estate Isn’t Rebounding

by Louis Basenese, Advisory Panelist

Editor’s Note: Yesterday we heard from Martin Denholm, the managing editor at Smart Profits, one of our affiliate publications which will be joining us over the next few weeks. We’ll be adding their experts to our esteemed panelists to give you the best investing ideas and advice out there. Today we follow Martin with outspoken favorite, Louis Basenese, who also gives us his take and concern for investors, on the housing market.

If ever an off-the-wall indicator existed to predict the fate of the U.S. housing market, I found it… You see, business is booming in one particular niche of the real estate industry - shrink-wrap.

That’s right. Contractors and developers are wrapping mothballed building projects in plastic, literally - from single-family homes to 25,000 square foot commercial properties.

The beneficiary? Privately-held Fast Wrap

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 26, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today's outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Neena Mishra discusses the Insurance sector. Highlighted stocks include: PartnerRe Ltd. (PRE), Amerisafe, Inc. (AMSF), Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), Primus Guaranty (PRS) and PMI Group (PMI).

Here is the latest on the Insurance sector:

We remain positive on reinsurer PartnerRe Ltd. (PRE) due to its excellent underwriting abilities, strong capitalization, solid ratings and reputation in the market, which will enable it to take advantage of the stronger demand and better pricing being witnessed currently. We also have a Buy rating on Amerisafe, Inc. (AMSF) in view of its strong capital position and sustained improvement in the results.

Currently we do not have any Sell recommendations on insurance stocks under

...

The turmoil in the financial markets resulted in a highly challenging environment for the U.S. insurance industry, a trend that is expected to continue through the end of the current year, though some signs of improvement can be seen now. We also expect further consolidation in the industry.

Life Insurers

Continued losses in the investment portfolio and lower income from the variable annuity business will continue to hurt earnings. Most life insurers have substantial exposure to commercial-real-estate-backed loans and securities, which will result in further losses in the coming quarters.

The Industry's statutory capital levels have fallen sharply and some companies are trying to raise capital through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). The Treasury has already approved six life insurers for capital infusion under TARP.

Property & Casualty Insurers

Insurers' losses from natural disasters surged in 2008, with maximum losses resulting from Hurricane Ike (insured losses of approximately $15 billion). Six named storms --

...

The turmoil in the financial markets resulted in a highly challenging environment for the U.S. insurance industry, a trend that is expected to continue through the end of the current year, though some signs of improvement can be seen now. We also expect further consolidation in the industry.

Life Insurers

Continued losses in the investment portfolio and lower income from the variable annuity business will continue to hurt earnings. Most life insurers have substantial exposure to commercial-real-estate-backed loans and securities, which will result in further losses in the coming quarters.

The Industry's statutory capital levels have fallen sharply and some companies are trying to raise capital through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). The Treasury has already approved six life insurers for capital infusion under TARP.

Property & Casualty Insurers

Insurers' losses from natural disasters surged in 2008, with maximum losses resulting from Hurricane Ike (insured losses of approximately $15 billion). Six named storms --

...

The turmoil in the financial markets resulted in a highly challenging environment for the U.S. insurance industry, a trend that is expected to continue through the end of the current year, though some signs of improvement can be seen now. We also expect further consolidation in the industry.Life InsurersContinued losses in the investment portfolio and lower income from the variable annuity business will continue to hurt earnings. Most life insurers have substantial exposure to commercial-real-estate-backed loans and securities, which will result in further losses in the coming quarters.The Industry's statutory capital levels have fallen sharply and some companies are trying to raise capital through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). The Treasury has already approved six life insurers for capital infusion under TARP.Property & Casualty InsurersInsurers' losses from natural disasters surged in 2008, with maximum ...

Wal-Mart (

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - April 27, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today's outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Neena Mishra discusses the Insurance sector. Highlighted stocks include: PartnerRe Ltd. (PRE), Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), Primus Guaranty (PRS) and PMI Group (PMI).

Here is the latest on the Insurance sector:

We remain positive on reinsurer PartnerRe Ltd. (PRE) due to its excellent underwriting abilities, strong capitalization, solid ratings and reputation in the market, which will enable it to take advantage of the stronger demand and better pricing being witnessed currently.

We have Sell recommendation on Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG), as we suspect that the company will face higher losses on the investment portfolio and its variable annuity business.

Primus Guaranty (PRS), a seller of credit default swaps, will face increased losses from its exposure to

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