The report separately detailed pricing, terms and capacity considerations for various casualty lines, including directors and officers, employment practices, errors and omissions, medical malpractice, and workers' compensation.

The Guy Carpenter report also reviews conditions at Jan. 1 for various segments of the property reinsurance market, revealing that U.S. property-catastrophe reinsurance prices were below July 1, 2006 levels. For national programs, rates for high layers of coverage fell 14 percent, while lower layers dropped by 17 percent, the New York-based intermediary reported.

For regional programs, the comparative price drops from July 1 were 29 percent for high layers and 30 percent for bottom layers.

The Guy Carpenter report also charts capacity, noting that property-cat re maximum authorized lines increased 14 percent to $1.5 billion, with more than 90 percent of the increase coming from Bermuda-domiciled companies. Bermuda capacity grew 26 percent to nearly $800 million, while capacity from U.S. reinsurers fell 13 percent to $200 million.

With contracts in all reinsurance segments other than property renewing flat or down from expiring levels at Jan. 1, 2006, the reports said, "we can now conclude that the U.S. reinsurance market overall has entered the soft phase of the cycle," adding that the phase should "persist for many years."

Two wildcards that may change conditions are catastrophe losses--like Winter Storm Kyrill in Europe--and the impact of Florida insurance reform legislation passed last week.