Tag: losses

The National Security Group, Inc. Releases Update on 2020 Hurricane Losses

The National Security Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NSEC) releases preliminary estimates of insured catastrophe losses from Hurricanes Sally and Delta along with updated estimates of catastrophe losses from Hurricane Laura incurred by property and casualty subsidiary National Security Fire & Casualty.

Hurricane Sally

On September 16, 2020, Hurricane Sally made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama as a category 2 storm. Hurricane Sally had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph at landfall and was the eighth tropical cyclone, in the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, to impact the continental U.S.

Our pre-tax loss due to Hurricane Sally is expected to be $2,000,000, net of recoveries under our catastrophe aggregate reinsurance. Net of tax, Hurricane Sally will reduce our 2020 earnings by $1,580,000 and will reduce earnings per share by $0.62. The impact of Hurricane Sally will be reflected in our third quarter financial results. To date, we have had approximately 600 claims reported from Hurricane Sally with approximately 90% of total claims from this event incurred by our Alabama policyholders.

Based on our analysis of historical reporting patterns, preliminary post event model estimates and assessment of claims to date, we estimate our ultimate gross losses from Hurricane Sally to be in the range of $3,000,000 to $3,500,000. While we expect to recover $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 under our catastrophe aggregate reinsurance, based on our estimate of gross losses, we do not expect losses from Hurricane Sally to impact our primary catastrophe reinsurance coverage which is triggered once gross losses exceed $4 million from a single catastrophe event. This first layer of catastrophe reinsurance was reinstated for a second event following losses from Hurricane Laura.

Hurricane Laura – Revision to the Range of Estimated Gross Losses

We are revising our estimate of gross losses due to Hurricane Laura. This revision to gross losses (before reinsurance) is

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Oil prices extend losses as U.S. producers restore output post-hurricane

By Florence Tan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices dropped for a second straight session on Monday as U.S. producers began restoring output after Hurricane Delta weakened, while a strike that had affected production in Norway came to an end.

Brent crude <LCOc1> for December fell 55 cents, or 1.3%, to $42.30 a barrel by 0023 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate <CLc1> for November was at $40.08 a barrel, down 52 cents, or 1.3%.

Front-month prices for both contracts gained more than 9% last week, the biggest weekly rise for Brent since June, but fell on Friday after Norwegian oil firms struck a wage bargain with labour union officials, resolving a strike that threatened to cut the country’s oil and gas output by close to 25%.

“We had good support for both Brent and West Texas on the back of some supply concerns,” said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney.

“Given that the hurricane season in the U.S. has just started, there’s potential for that to keep prices firm.”

In the United States, Hurricane Delta, which dealt the greatest blow to U.S. offshore Gulf of Mexico energy production in 15 years, was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone by Sunday.

Workers headed back to production platforms on Sunday while Total SA <TOTF.PA> continued restarting its 225,500 barrel-per-day Port Arthur, Texas, refinery on Sunday.

However, Colonial Pipeline, the largest oil products pipeline in the United States, shut its main distillate fuel line after the hurricane disrupted power, the company said on Sunday.

(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

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Report: Iowa’s derecho crop losses increase by more than 50%

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DES MOINES, Iowa — Crop loss estimates from a rare wind storm that slammed Iowa in August have increased by more than 50%, a new report shows.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday that the number of crop acres that Iowa farmers are unable to harvest has grown to 850,000 (343,983 hectares) from estimates last month that 550,000 acres (222,577 hectares) were lost, The Des Moines Register reported.

The storm, known as a derecho, generated winds of up to 140 mph that flattened crops. The damage then was compounded in late summer with a drought that, at its peak, encompassed much of the state. The drought is again expanding after some September rainfall.

A cornfield damaged in the derecho is seen on the Rod Pierce farm near Woodward, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAKS ON UTAH FARMS LEAVE 10,000 MINKS DEAD

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig said he expects the number of lost acres will climb even more as growers move deeper into the harvest. Usually, farmers will try to harvest downed corn, salvaging what they can. But Naig said he said he has heard that many are asking crop insurance adjusters to take another look at their fields after finding it more difficult than expected.

“Crops can deteriorate,” said Naig, who was helping his father harvest corn in northwest Iowa. “It’s a really dynamic situation.”

Crop loss estimates from a rare wind storm that slammed Iowa in August have increased by more than 50%, a new report shows. (Photo by Daniel Acker/Getty Images)

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In eastern Iowa, Steve Swenka said harvesting his downed corn has “just been miserable.”

“I’ve seen the gamut: Corn down, flat as

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Trump steel tarriffs resulted in job losses in Michigan

road to hell is paved with good intentions. if they were good intentions

CHICAGO(Reuters) – President Donald Trump promised a new dawn for the struggling U.S. steel industry in 2016, and the lure of new jobs in Midwestern states including Michigan helped him eke out a surprise election win.

Four years later, Great Lakes Works – once among the state’s largest steel plants – has shut down steelmaking operations and put 1,250 workers out of a job. A year before the June layoffs, plant owner United States Steel Corp called off a plan to invest $600 million in upgrades amid deteriorating market conditions.

Trump’s strategy centered on shielding U.S. steel mills from foreign competition with a 25% tariff imposed in March 2018. He also promised to boost steel demand through major investments in roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

But higher steel prices resulting from the tariffs dented demand from the Michigan-based U.S. auto industry and other steel consumers. And the Trump administration has never followed through on an infrastructure plan.

While the tariffs failed to boost overall steel employment, economists say they created higher costs for major steel consumers – killing jobs at companies including Detroit-based automakers General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co. Nationally, steel and aluminum tariffs resulted in at least 75,000 job losses in metal-using industries by the end of last year, according to an analysis by Lydia Cox, a Ph.D. candidate in economics at Harvard University, and Kadee Russ, an economics professor at the University of California, Davis. In all, they estimated, the trade war had caused a net loss of 175,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs by mid-2019.

When U.S. Steel idled Great Lakes Works, which primarily serves the automotive industry, it cited weak demand, lower steel prices and a new corporate strategy to invest in more

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Trump steel tariffs raised prices, shriveled up demand, led to job losses, some Michigan workers say

President Donald Trump promised a new dawn for the struggling U.S. steel industry in 2016, and the lure of new jobs in Midwestern states including Michigan helped him eke out a surprise election win.

Four years later, Great Lakes Works — once among the state’s largest steel plants — has shut down steelmaking operations and put 1,250 workers out of a job. A year before the June layoffs, plant owner United States Steel Corp called off a plan to invest $600 million in upgrades amid deteriorating market conditions.

Trump’s strategy centered on shielding U.S. steel mills from foreign competition with a 25 percent tariff imposed in March 2018. He also promised to boost steel demand through major investments in roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

But higher steel prices resulting from the tariffs dented demand from the Michigan-based U.S. auto industry and other steel consumers. And the Trump administration has never followed through on an infrastructure plan.

Higher steel prices resulting from Trump’s tariffs have dented demand from the Michigan-based U.S. auto industry and other steel consumers.

Michigan’s heavy reliance on the steel and auto industries puts Trump’s trade policy in sharp focus ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election in this battleground state. Democrats say they aim to recapture the votes of blue-collar workers they lost to Trump four years ago — one key factor in his victory over Hillary Clinton. Trump won Michigan by less than one percent of the statewide vote total. The competition for the votes of often-unionized manufacturing workers —who historically have voted Democratic — will be just as fierce in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, political analysts say.

Biden leads Trump in Michigan by 8 percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos state opinion poll of likely voters conducted from Sept. 29 – Oct.

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