The Hartford is not a financially sound company. The selloff was not on fear, but fundamentals. Its loaded to the gils with worthless assets. All those CMBS are now completely and utterly worthless. You cant value them because its an illiquid market.
Sure, you could daytrade it, but the bottom might fall out any day now when the CEO comes out to announce a bankruptcy filing.
If you like the excitement of gambling, then sure trade it, but its nothing more then another roll of the dice at the craps table.
Remember who runs this company, Juan Andrade, and he is from AIG. He made the same mistakes as they did soaking up worthless assets.
As it stands on the balance sheet, The Hartford is insolvent.
Life insurers fall on commercial mortgage concerns
Hartford, Principal Financial most vulnerable to CMBS losses, analyst says
By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch
Last update: 4:24 p.m. EST Feb. 20, 2009Comments: 3SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Hartford Financial led a decline among life insurers Friday on concern about the sector's exposure to losses in the commercial mortgage and real estate markets.
Shares of Hartford (HIG:hartford finl svcs group inc com
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Last: 6.79-0.94-12.16%
4:02pm 02/20/2009
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HIG 6.79, -0.94, -12.2%) , a leading variable annuity provider, dropped 12% to close at $6.79.
This month, Moody's Investors Service downgraded more than 1,200 classes of commercial mortgage-backed securities issued after 2005. The market is under further pressure because investors are concerned that the government's huge economic stimulus package won't fuel a quick economic recovery, Andrew Kligerman, a life insurance analyst at UBS, said in a note to clients Friday.
Triple-A rated, fixed-rate commercial mortgage-backed securities have dropped 4% in price this year, while AA and BBB rated CMBS are down 7% and 12%, respectively, Kligerman added.
Hartford and Principal Financial Group (PFG

rincipal financial group in com
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PFG 10.52, +0.01, +0.1%) are the most exposed to commercial mortgage-backed securities issued in 2006 to 2008, the analyst noted.
"Falling CMBS prices and ratings downgrades put pressure on life insurers' GAAP book values and risk-based capital ratios," the analyst wrote. "Life insurers with higher '06-'08 vintage and weaker-credit CMBS exposures are most vulnerable."
A.M. Best, an influential insurance industry rating agency, downgraded MetLife (MET:metlife inc com
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MET 21.42, -0.80, -3.6%) , Genworth Financial (GNW:genworth finl inc com cl a
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GNW 1.47, -0.12, -7.5%) and Lincoln National (LNC:Lincoln National Corporation
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LNC 11.44, -0.23, -2.0%) on Friday.
A.M. Best said the life insurers' exposure to commercial mortgages and commercial real estate was a concern.
"A.M. Best expects rising defaults in response to the deepening recession, and is most cautious on retail, hotel and office properties within close proximity to distressed housing markets and/or labor markets where unemployment is high," the agency said.
MetLife shares fell 3.6% to $21.43, while Genworth dropped 7.6% to $1.47 and Lincoln declined 2% to close at $11.44.
Principal Financial shares gained a penny to close at $10.52.