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Americans are ‘panic buying’ life insurance due to coronavirus pandemic

Americans are ‘panic buying’ life insurance due to coronavirus pandemic

  • Many firms have noted double-digit increases in the number of life insurance policies they’ve sold during the Covid-19 pandemic relative to last year. 
  • The increase is largely due to a fear of death and greater awareness of financial risks associated with mortality, experts said.
  • Insurance sales have been dwindling for years. In 2020, just over half of American adults reported having a life insurance policy, down from 63% a decade earlier.





© Provided by CNBC


Life insurance is enjoying something of a renaissance as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Consumers, especially younger adults, have been buying insurance in elevated numbers since the spring, when thousands of Americans began getting ill and dying from Covid-19.

That result is logical, experts said, given the core use of life insurance: as a financial backstop in the event of death.

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For example, what if the breadwinner of a family dies unexpectedly from Covid-19? Insurance is meant to plug that immediate gap in household income.

“It’s forced the idea of financial protection and mortality to the top of mind for consumers in a way very few events have,” said Jennifer Fitzgerald, the CEO and co-founder of Policygenius, an online marketplace for life insurance.

‘Panic buying’

Insurance sales have been dwindling for years. In 2020, just over half of American adults reported having a life insurance policy, down from 63% a decade earlier.

But Google Search traffic for “life insurance” jumped 50% between March and May this year compared with the same period in 2019, said Fitzgerald, whose firm gets a large share of business from such internet

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Mega-Refiner Buying Oil a Bright Spot for Constrained Market

Mega-Refiner Buying Oil a Bright Spot for Constrained Market

(Bloomberg) — A Chinese mega-refiner is snapping up barrels of Middle Eastern crude in a rare bright spot for a market hampered by dwindling import quotas after a buying spree earlier in the year.

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Rongsheng Petrochemical Co.’s Singapore unit has purchased at least 7 million barrels in the spot market so far this month for delivery in December and January, according to traders who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The company is buying up crude to feed a trial run operation of its expanded refinery in Zhejiang province this quarter.

Chinese crude imports rose in September for the first time in three months as companies sought oil for new and expanding plants. Inbound shipments may struggle to reach June’s peak through the rest of the year after independent refiners used up most of their quotas. The processors, known as teapots, played an outsized role in supporting oil prices this year after a buying frenzy following a rapid recovery from the pandemic.



chart: China's oil imports last month were at the highest level since July

© Bloomberg
China’s oil imports last month were at the highest level since July

Rongsheng’ Singapore unit purchased medium-sour grades from the Persian Gulf — the baseload for its refinery — such as Abu Dhabi’s Upper Zakum, Qatar’s Al-Shaheen and Iraq’s Basrah Light cargoes, according to the traders. The phase 2 expansion of its Zhoushan-based refinery is expected to double processing capacity to 800,000 barrels a day.

Rongsheng Petrochemical didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the matter.

Teapots are expected to ramp up crude purchases for January-arrival, traders said, with some companies already showing interest for spot purchases.

Beijing started allowing teapots to directly import crude in 2015 as part of an effort to increase private investment in the energy industry. The independent refiners, mainly based in Shandong province,

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Mega-Refiner’s Oil Buying a Bright Spot for Constrained Market

Mega-Refiner’s Oil Buying a Bright Spot for Constrained Market

(Bloomberg) — A Chinese mega-refiner is snapping up barrels of Middle Eastern crude in a rare bright spot for a market hampered by dwindling import quotas after a buying spree earlier in the year.



a group of people on a bridge over a body of water: A crew man stands on the deck of the crude oil tanker 'Devon' as it sails through the Persian Gulf towards Kharq Island oil terminal to transport crude oil to export markets in the Persian Gulf, Iran, on Friday, March 23, 2018. Geopolitical risk is creeping back into the crude oil market.

© Bloomberg
A crew man stands on the deck of the crude oil tanker ‘Devon’ as it sails through the Persian Gulf towards Kharq Island oil terminal to transport crude oil to export markets in the Persian Gulf, Iran, on Friday, March 23, 2018. Geopolitical risk is creeping back into the crude oil market.

Rongsheng Petrochemical Co.’s Singapore unit has purchased at least 7 million barrels in the spot market so far this month for delivery in December and January, according to traders who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The company is buying up crude to feed a trial run operation of its expanded refinery in Zhejiang province this quarter.

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Chinese crude imports rose in September for the first time in three months as companies sought oil for new and expanding plants. Inbound shipments may struggle to reach June’s peak through the rest of the year after independent refiners used up most of their quotas. The processors, known as teapots, played an outsized role in supporting oil prices this year after a buying frenzy following a rapid recovery from the pandemic.

Rongsheng’ Singapore unit purchased medium-sour grades from the Persian Gulf — the baseload for its refinery — such as Abu Dhabi’s Upper Zakum, Qatar’s Al-Shaheen and Iraq’s Basrah Light cargoes, according to the traders. The phase 2 expansion of its Zhoushan-based refinery is expected to double processing capacity to 800,000 barrels a day.

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Rongsheng Petrochemical

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Thinking about buying stock in DouYu, Adamis Pharmaceuticals, Altimmune, FuelCell Energy, or Ovid Therapeutics?

Thinking about buying stock in DouYu, Adamis Pharmaceuticals, Altimmune, FuelCell Energy, or Ovid Therapeutics?

Thinking about buying stock in DouYu, Adamis Pharmaceuticals, Altimmune, FuelCell Energy, or Ovid Therapeutics?

Thinking about buying stock in DouYu, Adamis Pharmaceuticals, Altimmune, FuelCell Energy, or Ovid Therapeutics?

PR Newswire

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2020

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — InvestorsObserver issues critical PriceWatch Alerts for DOYU, ADMP, ALT, FCEL, and OVID.

To see how InvestorsObserver’s proprietary scoring system rates these stocks, view the InvestorsObserver’s PriceWatch Alert by selecting the corresponding link.

(Note: You may have to copy this link into your browser then press the [ENTER] key.)

InvestorsObserver’s PriceWatch Alerts are based on our proprietary scoring methodology. Each stock is evaluated based on short-term technical, long-term technical and fundamental factors. Each of those scores is then combined into an overall score that determines a stock’s overall suitability for investment.


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SOURCE InvestorsObserver

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