Het is gemakkelijk paniek te zaaien met geruchten en stukjes informatie.
De mediawereld doet dit structureel: slecht nieuws is interessant, zeker als slecht nieuws in het nieuws is en iedereen zoekt naar bevestiging.

Dit is een stuk goed nieuws over dezelfde markt waar we vanochtend wat slecht nieuws over aanstipten. En dat was hoofdzakelijk om de optimisten onder ons tot huisvaderlijke voorzichtigheid te manen.
Hier komt AIG. Vergeet niet dat deze verzekeraar al een rondje over-optimistische rapportage achter zich heeft. Dat rondje duurde een aantal decennia en werd vorig jaar afgesloten toen topman Maurice "Hank" Greenberg vertrok.
AIG is dus een voorzichtige verzekeraar tegenwoordig, dus lees dit bericht in dat licht.

American International Group, the world’s largest insurer, sought on Wednesday to calm market fears about the impact of the US subprime mortgage meltdown by declaring it was “very comfortable” with its exposure.

AIG’s share price has been hit by concerns that it will face big losses on the subprime mortgages it provided and on the mortgage-backed securities in its investment portfolio.

AIG said recently that at the end of the first quarter it had 3.6 per cent of its $814bn investment portfolio in subprime mortgage securities.

It also estimated that complying with regulators’ demands that lenders assist subprime borrowers in trouble would cost it about $178m.

Martin Sullivan, chief executive, said on Wednesday: “We continue to be very comfortable with our exposure to the US residential mortgage market, both in our operations and our investment activities.”

However, he said the company would provide more details on its exposure during a conference call on Thursday to discuss its second-quarter earnings.

The figures, announced after the market closed on Wednesday, showed a better than expected 11 per cent rise in adjusted net income to $4.63bn with earnings per share 12 per cent higher at $1.77.

Operating income from general insurance was 4 per cent higher at $2.98bn in spite of a $78m loss, compared with a $110m profit last year, from its US mortgage insurance business.Vakantiegroeten van Michael “Henk” Kraland