New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the creation of a working group with five neighboring states that will develop a coordinated plan to begin "within weeks" reopening their economies, which like the rest of the country have been paralyzed by the coronavirus pandemic. The governors of California, Washington and Oregon also said they are building a regional framework to reopen their economies.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has ordered insurers to return premiums to policyholders during the COVID-19 emergency.

Chubb Ltd.'s small-business clients in the U.S. whose policies renew between April 1 and Aug. 1 will receive an automatic 25% reduction in the sales and payroll exposures used to calculate their premium, as well as a reduction of 15% in premiums for their commercial auto insurance. Separately, Cincinnati Financial Corp. units Cincinnati Insurance Co. and Cincinnati Casualty Co., are offering current personal lines auto policyholders 15% credit per policy on their premiums for April and May, subject to regulatory approval.

Safety Insurance Group Inc. customers with active policies as of April 1 are eligible to get a 15% credit off their personal auto premiums for April and May, pending regulatory approval.

Selective Insurance Co. Of America personal and business auto policyholders will receive a 15% credit for April and May, subject to regulatory approval.

QBE Insurance Group Ltd. plans to raise about US$750 million of equity via an underwritten institutional placement and a non-underwritten share purchase plan for retail shareholders to raise up to about US$75 million. It will also get additional catastrophe reinsurance to reduce the group's North American peak peril catastrophe retention to US$150 million from US$275 million, which would help prevent the company from materially exceeding its US$550 million annual catastrophe allowance. The placement was fully covered by mid-afternoon Sydney time, the Australian Financial Review reported.

Amid low global bond yields, Japan-based Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Co. intends to beef up its portfolio of Japanese stocks by 20 billion yen and foreign stocks by 50 billion yen in the present fiscal year through March, Reuters reported, citing a senior company official.

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Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi saw as many as 60 tornadoes on April 12, while parts of Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas were also struck by severe storms, the BBC reported.

The New York State Department of Financial Services fined Athene Holding Ltd. and unit Athene Annuity & Life Co. $45 million related to a probe into the subsidiary's unlicensed pension risk transfer business in the state.

Molina Healthcare Inc. said it has terminated its agreement to acquire all of the capital stock of Nextlevel Health Partners Inc. In a one-sentence announcement April 14, Molina attributed the decision to the seller's stated unwillingness to close pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement.

Greenlight Capital Re Ltd. expects to report a net loss of between $38 million, or $1.05 per share, and $43 million, or $1.19 per share, for the first quarter. It anticipates a combined ratio of 97% to 101%. Greenlight Re flagged an investment loss in the Solasglas Investments LP fund of $42.2 million, representing a loss of 8.1% for the quarter.

1347 Property Insurance Holdings Inc. expects to report a first-quarter net loss attributable to common shareholders of $8.6 million, or $1.43 per share, compared to a net loss of $252,000, or 4 cents per share, a year earlier.

Pension Insurance Corp. PLC concluded a £400 million pension insurance buy-in with the trustee of the Co-operative Pension Scheme, covering liabilities for about 2,000 members in the bank section of the scheme.

Randall & Quilter II Holdings Ltd. agreed to acquire the entire issued share capital of ICI Insurance Co. Ltd. from Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd.

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US life industry's statutory income statement strength set to sink: The expansion in direct premiums and statutory earnings the U.S. life industry experienced in 2019 is unlikely to last as companies begin to confront top- and bottom-line fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In other parts of the world

Asia-Pacific: Westpac's A$1.4B hit to earnings; South Korean banks get Myanmar nod

Europe: Lockdown extension; Julius Bär amends dividend plan; UBS execs to take pay cut

Middle East & Africa: QNB Q1 results; Mizrahi Tefahot suspends dividend; Banque du Caire IPO postponed

The day ahead

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

In Asia, Hang Seng rose 0.56% at 24,435.40, while the Nikkei 225 gained 3.13% to 19,638.81.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 fell 0.40% to 5,819.19, and the Euronext 100 was down 0.21% to 886.00.

Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.

On the macro front

Import and export prices and the Redbook Index for retail sales are due out today.

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