The needles are off of the Christmas tree, presents are already used, broken or returned, and now it's time to dump the flat champagne and face the gray dawn of 2011. Or is it still 2010? There doesn't seem to be much difference.
December's job numbers were so disappointing that the stock market took a hit. Sales of existing homes late in the year fell lower than expected, spurring fears of a new wave of mortgage defaults. And Fitch and other sources are predicting another flat year for insurance pricing.
But things aren't all bleak. According to Swiss Re, although profits will remain under pressure in 2011, prospects are good for insurance companies, with growth expected to accelerate. “The crisis is over for the insurance industry,” said chief economist Thomas Hess in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires. “There are some after-shocks that need to be digested, like Greece or Ireland, but shareholder's capital has been restored.” And in a recent Bank of America survey, 47 percent of U.S. CFOs expect their companies to hire additional employees this year, up from 28 percent last year, and 64 percent expect revenue growth in 2011, up from 61 percent last year.
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