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By 
October 14, 2021 at 02:43 PM
What You Need to Know
- UnitedHealth posted earnings Thursday.
- Most life, health and annuity issuer earnings start coming out Oct. 26.
- Uncertainty about prices will give the executives something to talk about besides low interest rates and COVID-19.
U.S. prices might, or might not, be at the start of a long climb up, and that could give top executives at life, health and annuity issuers something new to talk about as they hold their new round of earnings calls.
If the Federal Reserve Board raises interest rates in an effort to fight inflation, inflation could mean boom times for insurers with large blocks of disability insurance, long-term care insurance or some types of annuity guarantees on their books, by increasing bond yields, and investment earnings, without doing much to increase claim costs.
But inflation could also hurt insurers in some ways — for example, by raising claim costs for health insurers, and increasing the cost of any policy provisions that tie increases in customers’ benefits to the inflation rate.
Earnings Season
Companies that sell stock to the general public typically release earnings summaries and hold conference calls with securities analysts a few weeks after the end of every quarter. Financial professionals and clients can find links to the conference calls by going to the investor relations section on the issuer’s website.
The third quarter of 2021 ended Sept. 30.
