Judging according to the performan...

Judging according to the performance of their stocks between the walls of last October, life underwriters have not escaped the beating taken from other financial institutions or the overall market, plane though they have not been exposeed to the kind of negative headlines that routinely trigger market collapses--at least in North America. As of last fall, life stocks had underperformed the S&P by dint of 20%, and insurers' relative price/earnings ratios had collapsed compared with their favorable flat in 2001, widening the gap between life insurers' market valuation and that of other publicly traded companies.

In the connection of recent events, it