For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 14, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc (HIG), Lincoln Financial Group (LNC), Allstate Corp. (ALL), Prudential Financial Inc. (PRU) and Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP).

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Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Insurers Eye TARP Funds

The Treasury had stated that some of the life insurers may qualify for TARP because of their Bank Holding Company status. As of now, considering the repayments from banks, Treasury has approved six life insurers for capital infusion under TARP.

Among the other insurers, Hartford Financial Services Group Inc (HIG) is the first to receive government money. On June 24, 2009, HIG acquired Federal Trust to satisfy a key eligibility requirement for its participation in the Capital Purchase Program (CPP) and received $3.4 billion from the Treasury.

Lincoln Financial Group (LNC) was the second of the six insurers that got permission to receive TARP fund. On July 10, 2009, LNC raised $2.1 billion of capital by selling $950 million of preferred shares to the government under the TARP. The company also issued $690 million of common stock and $500 million of senior notes.

Besides these two, Allstate Corp. (ALL), Prudential Financial Inc. (PRU), Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP) and one other were the other companies approved to receive TARP funds.

The ongoing turmoil in the financial markets as a whole has resulted in a highly challenging environment for the U.S. insurance industry, a trend that is expected to continue at least through the end of 2009. We also expect further consolidation in the industry.

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