The largest life insurance company in the United States, MetLife reported a drop in its earnings over the second quarter. The news led to a fall in its share price which slipped almost by 10 percent. The news points to the continued trend of slump in the equity markets all over the country.

The second quarter report revealed that MetLife earnings were down to $915 million or $1.26 a share which indicates a slide of 19 percent. Senior executives blamed the drop in profits on investment losses as well as drop in insurance earnings. One major reason for this was greater share of catastrophe losses arising out of natural disasters like tornadoes and hailstorms which swept many parts of the US in the beginning of the year.

The news of reduced earnings and falling profits from MetLife had a negative impact on the stock market with its share prices falling to $47.60 in after hours trading. This proved contrary to Wall Street expectations of MetLife earning $6.16 a share in 2008 operating profit. The company has now revised its operating earnings forecast to $5.70 to $5.90 a share. However total revenue which includes investment income as well as realized losses has risen by 4 percent from last year to touch $13.7 billion.

-Kalyani Mookherji