Prominent insurance-linked funds looked set to log their best daily gains on Friday, even as Hurricane Irma was set to lash deadly rains and winds at Florida, among a trio of powerful storms brewing in the Atlantic. Still, PowerShares KBW Property & Casualty Insurance Portfolio was surging 4.2%, putting the exchanged-traded fund on track for its best one-day rise since Aug. 29, 2011, according to FactSet data. All of its components were in the green, led by more than 6% gain in shares of Maiden Holdings Ltd. and XL Group Ltd.. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average , Travelers Cos. Inc., was up 4.4%, its best day in about five years, since Dec. 5, 2012. Its gain alone was adding about 35 points to the price-weighted Dow’s tepid climb on Friday. Other popular insurance funds were trading sharply higher. The S&P Insurance ETF were 2.9% and the iShares U.S. Insurance ETF was nearly 3% higher. Despite, Friday’s odd gains, most of the insurer funds were set to log steep declines. The property and casualty ETF was set for a 3.1% weekly decline, the iShares insurance fund was looking at a 1.5% drop for the period, while the SPDR insurance fund was on track for a weekly slide of 2.6%. Winds from Hurricane Irma, already the most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record, on Friday picked up speed as it barreled toward Florida, prompting Gov. Rick Scott to urge all Floridians to evacuate. The approaching storm comes less than two weeks since Hurricane Harvey devastated much of Houston and parts of Louisiana. Besides Irma, hurricanes Katia and Jose are also swirling in the Atlantic. In broader markets, the S&P 500 index was trading off 0.1% at 2,462, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.6%. The Dow was in the green on back of Travelers. The insurance giant is on pace to wipe out its weekly decline, if its Friday rally holds. One rationale for insurer gains on the day is the hope that Irma will produce less damaging floodwaters and lasting damage than Harvey.
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