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Alphabet unit in talks for insurance push; commercial insurance prices rise

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Alphabet unit in talks for insurance push; commercial insurance prices rise

Looking to enter the health insurance industry, Alphabet Inc.'s health care subsidiary Verily Life Science is in discussions with insurers to jointly bid for contracts and to provide insurance for hundreds of thousands of people, CNBC reported. The company is also looking to hire people as part of the push.

Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc. expects to claim $104 million in reinsurance recoveries from three separate catastrophe bond deals following Hurricane Irma, Artemis reported. These recoveries will be claimed from Citrus Re Ltd. (Series 2015-1), Citrus Re Ltd. (Series 2016-1) and Citrus Re Ltd. (Series 2017-2) deals.

For the first time in four and a half years, commercial insurance prices increased on average in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to the Marsh Global Insurance Market Index. Global property insurance pricing, which was impacted by large catastrophe losses in the third quarter of 2017, mostly contributed to the increase.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. posted its lowest level of net premiums and annuity considerations in six years during 2017, but not due to any weakness in the company's sales of one of its key life insurance products, a report by S&P Global Market Intelligence notes.

And, Maiden Holdings Ltd. reported a fourth-quarter 2017 non-GAAP operating loss.

Featured news

US readies special team for opioid crisis; EU to approve Bayer's Monsanto bid: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department would create a new task force to curb the opioid crisis; and Bayer is close to getting approval from European regulators for its $62.5 billion acquisition of Monsanto.

Financial news in other parts of the world

Asia-Pacific: China unveils bond issue rules; India tells banks to fix operational gaps

Europe: Deutsche Bank settles LIBOR case; Sberbank, Erste post YOY rise in FY'17 profits

Middle East & Africa: Mizrahi Tefahot to pay more dividends; FirstRand names new CEO

Latin America: Q4 profits rise for BTG, Sul América; Itaú CorpBanca posts net loss

The day ahead

Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.

In Asia, the Hang Seng was down 1.36% to 30,844.72 and the Nikkei 225 fell 1.44% to 22,068.24.

In Europe as of midday, the FTSE 100 dropped 0.26% to 7,263.25, and the Euronext 100 slid 0.46% to 1,027.36.

On the macro front

The Chicago PMI report, Pending Home Sales Index and the EIA Petroleum Status Report are due out today.