Fed Announcement Presents Headwinds for U.S. Insurance/Life stocks - Barclays

Barclays analyst, Jey Gelb, sees headwinds for U.S. Insurance/Life stocks through 2014 from yesterday's Fed announcement.

Gelb feels the decision of the Fed to keep interest rates close to zero until 2014 will hamper reinvestment rates and sees AIG (NYSE: AIG), Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC), Hartford (NYSE: HIG), and Principal Financial (NYSE: PFG) as (large-cap) companies with the most exposure. Gelb labels Symetra Financial (NYSE: SYA) and Protective Life (NYSE: PL) as small/mid caps with the greatest exposure.

However, Barclays still sees MetLife (NYSE: MET), Aflac (NYSE: AFL) and Prudential (NYSE: PRU) as top large cap picks (in their universe), citing attractive valuations and overall strong franchises. Preferred small/mid cap stocks for the firm include Torchmark (NYSE: TMK) and Reinsurance Group (NYSE: RGA)

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