By Carlos Pallordet

Nov 17 - (The Insurer) - The North American insurance composite compiled by Stonybrook Capital and Weild & Co advanced 2.9% last week, driven by gains among personal lines and standard commercial insurers.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out gains of 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively, in the week to Friday.

Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 slid 0.2%.

「We have been sensing, and calling, a defensive rotation in equities away from AI and mega cap tech, which had been trading at stretched multiples, and back toward more traditional sectors,」 Stonybrook-Weild said.

「This week provided further evidence that the rotation is underway,」 they added.

The investment banks noted other signs of emerging softness, including a 1.8% drop in the small-cap Russell 2000 index and declines in both the Dow Transportation and Dow Utilities averages over the week.

Stonybrook-Weild said stocks and bond yields had initially reacted favourably to the resolution of the 43-day U.S. government shutdown. However, optimism faded later in the week as the perceived odds of a Federal Reserve rate cut next month fell to 46%, down sharply from a month ago.

In the North American insurance composite, advancers led decliners by 76 to 36, with 11 of the 12 groups finishing in positive territory.

The two best-performing groups were personal lines insurers, up 3.9%, and standard commercial insurers, up 2.5%.

Among the former, Allstate led the gains with a surge of 5.9%, following a 5.6% rise the previous week.

Mercury General posted the second-largest increase, adding 5.4% after the previous week's 8.1% jump.

Shares in leader Progressive were up 3.6%, having advanced 5.5% a week earlier.

At the other end of the spectrum, shares in Porch Group fell 9.3% in the week to Friday, while Hippo and Lemonade were down 7.4% and 6.0%, respectively.

「As in the broader market, most tech focused names slid as investors continue rotating toward sectors with less lofty valuations,」 Stonybrook-Weild noted.

Among standard commercial insurers, Old Republic booked the largest gain, with its shares up 7.5% for the week.

United Fire Group was second, closing 5.0% higher after surging 16.9% in the previous week.

Shares in leader Travelers rose 2.7%, while The Hartford, the second-largest company in the cohort by market capitalisation, added 3.4%.

The two worst-performing groups in the composite were reinsurers, down 0.7%, and other brokers and distributors, up 0.4%.

Among the former, RenaissanceRe recorded the weakest performance, with its shares retreating 2.2% after advancing 6.0% in the previous week.

Leader Everest Group closed the week flat, following a 3.7% rise the week before.

SiriusPoint advanced 2.6%, adding to gains of 8.9% in the previous week.

Among global brokers, Arthur J Gallagher led the gains with a rise of 3.4%, followed by Marsh McLennan and Aon, up 1.5% and 1.1%, respectively.

In contrast, shares in WTW fell 1.2%.

The Stonybrook-Weild North American Insurance composite is up 6.0% on a year-to-date basis.

In this article, we have included a selection of industry comp tables published in full by Stonybrook and Weild & Co in their weekly update.