The reduction represents a decrease of 4.1 percent. It is effective for new or renewed policies after July 1.

“With the economy still recovering, this significant decrease delivers savings to more than one million drivers in Southern California,” Jones said in a statement. “The Auto Club has again stepped-up and put their policyholders’ interests first. They have a history of rate decreases and have set an example I hope other insurance companies will follow.”

New discounts being introduced include increased multi-policy discounts for homeowners’, new group discounts for alumni association members, expanded discounts for medical professionals and CPAs, and student-away discounts for children who are away studying at college and don’t have a vehicle.

“This is the fourth auto rate reduction over the past nine years, collectively saving policyholders over $380 million and continuing to fulfill our ongoing commitment to offer our members the best insurance at the best possible price,” Bouttier said in a statement.

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The transaction is expected to close in July of 2013 and is subject to customary closing conditions. The transaction will be a cash acquisition and is not subject to financing conditions.

The total net consideration is $336.5 million ($360 million in cash with adjustments for working capital and the value of net tax operating loss carryforwards).

Beecher Carlson Holdings Inc. reported that through its subsidiaries it had total annual net revenues for 2012 of $105.6 million. It has insurance and risk management clients in the fields of energy, financial services, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, public entities and real estate as well as tribal nations.

The large account division will remain intact, operating as Beecher Carlson under its current leadership based in Atlanta, Georgia. The middle-market retail offices in Oregon, Arizona and Mississippi will become part of the existing Brown Brown Retail Division. The OnPoint programs will become a part of Brown Brown’s National Programs Division.

The firms also said that as part of this transaction:

• Steve Denton, Beecher Carlson’s current president, will be named a regional vice president of Brown Brown Inc. and will serve as the CEO of Beecher Carlson.
• Dan Donovan, Beecher Carlson’s current chief executive officer, will serve as executive chairman of Beecher Carlson.
• Denton and Donovan will both be actively involved in the day-to-day operations of Beecher Carlson and will also join Brown Brown Inc.’s Leadership Council.

“This transaction brings many exciting opportunities to Brown Brown. Beecher Carlson enjoys an enviable position in the industry segments in which it operates, especially in the large account space,” said J. Powell Brown, CEO and president of Brown Brown.

The original agency, Becher + Carlson, was formed in 1981 by William Becher and David Carlson, formerly senior officers of Risk Management Inc., a division of Emmett Chandler, Los Angeles.  Risk Management Inc. offered captive and alternative risk services.

Becher + Carlson remained an independent company until December 1989 at which time it was acquired by American Re-Insurance Co., a property/casualty reinsurer.

Key employees purchased the firm from American Re in 2003 and renamed it Beecher Carlson. In July 2004, after the purchase from American Re, the firm announced a $90 million capital commitment from private equity sources.

Brown Brown, headquartered in Daytona Beach and Tampa,  operates in 38 states and has a London office.

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Doak has previously said that insured losses from the tornadoes that struck Oklahoma over the weekend, including the massive EF5 twister that tore through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on May 20, would likely exceed $2 billion.

Doak said the Oklahoma Insurance Department has opened a Consumer Assistance Command Center to assist tornado victims, located at 301 NE 27th St., Moore, Okla.

“Our goal is to assist people in any way we can who have witnessed firsthand the devastation that severe weather can cause,” said Doak. “This is a large-scale disaster that will take quite some time to recover from and we are and will continue to be committed to providing support and help to those who need it. We are also working closely with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to provide support to anyone who calls our toll-free Consumer Assistance hotline – 1-800-522-0071.”

Doak said all major insurance companies are on location with mobile response units to help victims of the tornado with insurance claims.

Additionally, the Oklahoma Banking Department has partnered with the OID to provide onsite ATMs with waived service charges in addition to OID staff on hand to further aid disaster recovery.

OID has implemented a new protocol for insurance adjusters and agents requesting they obtain an identification badge from the Command Center in order to enter disaster zones and assist residents impacted from the tornado.

OID Anti-Fraud investigators responded to disaster sites in not only Moore, but Shawnee, Edmond, North Oklahoma City, Luther, Carney and Little Axe this week. The investigators are available to help mitigate insurance fraud during the recovery process.

“We are sending a strong message that we will not tolerate any type of fraud,” said Doak.

Source: Oklahoma Insurance Department

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In a court filing Monday, the company says George W. Huguely V declined requests for questioning under oath. The company wants to be released from defending Huguely or paying damages in a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the family of the slain Yeardley Love.

Huguely was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2010 beating death. He is serving a 23-year prison sentence. The Virginia Court of Appeals has agreed to hear Huguely’s appeal.

AIG’s Chartis Property Casualty unit filed suit in federal court in Greenbelt, Md. Chartis says Huguely’s refusal to cooperate constitutes a breach of contract under his family’s homeowners policy.

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The leading candidate for the root cause of all the recent volatility is the general disposition of the Fed  toward QE3, the “quantitative easing” programs responsible for the Fed’s large-scale asset purchases.  To a large, but unknown extent, QE3 is one factor keeping mortgage rates low because it makes for massive, guaranteed buying demand for mortgage-backed-securities.  Extra demand raises prices, and higher prices in MBS allow for lower mortgage rates.  Analysts have estimated the effects of QE3 to be anywhere from .5 to 1.0% for mortgage rates.

While it’s impossible to know for sure, it’s certain that rates would be higher without QE3.  The “general disposition” mentioned above, refers to whether or not the Fed will soon begin curtailing the dollar amount of QE3 purchases.  There’s also uncertainty as to whether or not that would begin in MBS or Treasuries, but decreasing purchases in either would still have a negative effect on mortgage rates.  That said, some level of decrease or “tapering” as it’s most frequently referred to has probably been “priced in” to rate levels over the past few weeks. 

Markets are waiting to see if Bernanke (who speaks in front of the Joint Economic Committee in the morning) or the Minutes from the last FOMC Meeting (released at 2pm in the afternoon) will offer any additional insights as to when and how such tapering might take shape.  In general, the  shorter the time horizon and the bigger the decrease, the worse it would be for rates.  We probably haven’t seen rates go quite as high as the worst case scenario would warrant, but there’s also plenty of room for rates to bounce back if there’s less serious talk of tapering in tomorrow’s events.  Just like the last instance of a positive day for rates, we can’t draw any conclusions about a “bounce,” but it’s definitely on the table as an equal possibility in the short term depending on how tomorrow goes.

Loan Originator Perspectives

“Finally caught an up day in MBS markets today as Fed speak stoked investor hopes for continued Fed easing. As pronounced and decisive as today’s move (+12/32 as of press time) is, it’s important to note we have just recaptured yesterday’s opening levels. At least the down trend is off the table for now; borrowers and loan officers can breath a short sigh of relief. Still prefer to lock early in the loan process, don’t want to gamble much in this market.” -Ted Rood, Senior Originator, Wintrust Mortgage

“Would be great if this was a turning point and we were heading lower in rates, but based on the recent moves I have a hard time believing this is nothing more than a headfake. Though FED members have been helping the last couple days with their chatter so maybe they have a feed to MBSLive. Still favor locking until we see 2 positive days in a row and even then floating is for the brave.” -Mike Owens, Partner, Horizon Financial Inc.

“The day-to-day volatility continues this week. The two day MBS chart for this week looks like a Six Flags roller coaster, and rates are racing up and down accordingly. This is likely to continue through tomorrow when the FOMC minutes from May 1 are released. The best approach in this kind of volatility for rate shoppers is to set a realistic rate target with your lender, and lock when your target is available.” -Julian Hebron, Branch Manager, RPM Mortgage

Today’s Best-Execution Rates

• 30YR FIXED – 3.625%, (3.75% not far from sharing the best-execution space)
• FHA/VA – 3.25% (varies more between lenders than conventional 30yr Fixed)
• 15 YEAR FIXED –  2.75-2.875%
• 5 YEAR ARMS -  2.625-3.25% depending on the lender

Ongoing Lock/Float Considerations

• After rising consistently from all-time lows in September and October 2012, rates challenged the long term trend higher, but failed to sustain a breakout
• EU and domestic economic data remain relevant to mortgage rates, but uncertainty over the Fed’s bond-buying plans through the rest of the year is causing volatility 
• The further we’ve progressed into 2013, the faster the swings have become
• (As always, please keep in mind that our talk of Best-Execution always pertains to a completely ideal scenario.  There can be all sorts of reasons that your quoted rate would not be the same as our average rates, and in those cases, assuming you’re following along on a day to day basis, simply use the Best-Ex levels we quote as a baseline to track potential movement in your quoted rate).

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Mortgage News Daily’s rate series is updated every day, once a day (usually near the end of the day to account for any intraday reprices from lenders).  It’s based on actual lender rate sheets and assuming you’re viewing the “updated” timestamp on this page, and assuming it’s current, you can be assured that you’re getting an accurate idea of the day over day change in rates.  Because actual rate quotes can vary so greatly between borrower, lenders, and geographies, focusing on the day over day change is the best way to get an accurate picture of what’s going on with mortgage rates.    

With that in mind, the day-over-day average rose 0.09, matching several of the highest single day increases since late 2010.  What’s worse about today is that it arrives during a month that was already significantly worse than any previous month since December 2010.  Today’s losses added an resoundingly conclusive insult to injury.  So why did it happen?

For those who have been following along, we’ve increasingly discussed the importance of today’s events.  In particular, markets were eager to get the official word on how the Fed might begin tapering their purchases of Treasuries and MBS.  The mere possibility that today’s Fed Minutes or Bernanke speech could confirm these fears was enough to cause a lot of the pain so far in May.  Yesterday, we said:

the shorter the time horizon and the bigger the decrease, the worse it would be for rates.  We probably haven’t seen rates go quite as high as the worst case scenario would warrant, but there’s also plenty of room for rates to bounce back if there’s less serious talk of tapering in tomorrow’s events.  

As it happened, there was no discussion of dollar amounts of tapering, but the time horizons were as short as they possibly could be with the chairman himself saying the Fed “could take a step down in the pace of purchases in the next few meetings.”  And the next meeting is June 18-19th!  In short, worst case possibilities–or close to them–were confirmed and rates went up about as fast as they go up on really really bad days. 

When we say “about as fast as they go up,” this isn’t just a random generalization about bad days for rates.  It’s foundation is in the very mortgage-backed-securities (MBS) market that dictates loan pricing.  Ever since the Employment Situation report on May 3rd caused bond markets (in which MBS are a key player) to reverse course, volatility has been increasing.  This was kicked into high gear on May 10th when the speculation about the Fed’s potential “tapering message” gained significant traction.  

From then on, MBS have been on an evil roller-coaster–one whose intention is not to excite, but to terrify and nauseate; to alternately build up brief pockets of hope and reprieve only to more completely crush one’s sense of safety and normalcy.  What follows is a chart of MBS PRICES.  Keep in mind that as prices go up, rates go down (so the lower the teal line is here, the worse it is for rates:

The linear degradation of prices in mid-May is the reason we say “about as bad as it gets,” because continuing to bounce along that “worse” line was about the biggest move that MBS were going to muster after coming from yesterday’s highs.  It was a complete traversal of the recent range and then some.

Not only is that bad because it takes MBS prices to recent lows, but this sort of volatility wreaks havoc on lenders’ rate sheets.  Generally speaking, the smaller the day-over-day changes, and the more consistently they move in the same direction (mid-March through April would be a fantastic and conveniently juxtaposed example), the more generous lenders can be with rate sheets.  Case in point, by May 1st, rates were into their lowest levels since November 2012.  

As you can see, if “prices moving lower” is bad for rates and if “bigger swings between lows and highs” is a complicating factor, then most every day during the last three weeks has been unpleasant to say the least, and today is the worst of them.  

Loan Originator Perspectives

“One of the most pronounced selling days in recent MBS history today as Fed minutes and Bernanke testimony both confirmed the Fed’s inclination to slow QE. We lost over 100 bps (1%) in pricing from the highs to lows of day, and are closing near the lows. Borrowers floating or starting their loans have a choice: lock and remove fears of further losses, or float and hope the market comes back. While we’re likely to recover at least some of the losses over the next week, it takes a steel constitution to float in this environment.” -Ted Rood, Senior Originator, Wintrust Mortgage

“Well not much to say other than I hope your loan officer had advised to lock your rate and you did. Highest rates of the year are on the plate. ” -Mike Owens, Partner, Horizon Financial Inc.

Today’s Best-Execution Rates

• 30YR FIXED – 3.75%
• FHA/VA – 3.25% (varies more between lenders than conventional 30yr Fixed)
• 15 YEAR FIXED –  2.875-3.0%
• 5 YEAR ARMS -  2.625-3.25% depending on the lender

Ongoing Lock/Float Considerations

• After rising consistently from all-time lows in September and October 2012, rates challenged the long term trend higher, but failed to sustain a breakout
• EU and domestic economic data remain relevant to mortgage rates, but uncertainty over the Fed’s bond-buying plans through the rest of the year is causing volatility 
• The further we’ve progressed into 2013, the faster the swings have become
• Fears about the Fed’s bond-buying intentions were proven well-founded on May 22nd when rates rose to 1yr highs after the Fed confirmed their intention to taper bond buying programs sooner vs later
• (As always, please keep in mind that our talk of Best-Execution always pertains to a completely ideal scenario.  There can be all sorts of reasons that your quoted rate would not be the same as our average rates, and in those cases, assuming you’re following along on a day to day basis, simply use the Best-Ex levels we quote as a baseline to track potential movement in your quoted rate).

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Hewlett-Packard Co raised its 2013 earnings outlook after quarterly results beat low expectations, as CEO Meg Whitman’s …

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By Poornima Gupta

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co raised its 2013 earnings outlook after quarterly results beat low expectations, as CEO Meg Whitman’s turnaround plan helped offset shrinking personal computer sales with enterprise computing services.

While fiscal second-quarter profit plummeted 32 percent, Wall Street had braced for worse. HP shares gained 14 percent after the company projected full-year earnings per share of $3.50 to $3.60, raising the lower end by 10 cents, and fiscal third-quarter profit that topped analyst estimates.

Whitman, who took the helm at the world’s largest PC maker more than a year ago, is orchestrating a turnaround, trying to recapture some of the Silicon Valley icon’s former strong growth. She has said the process could take years.

HP received a warmer welcome from investors for its results than smaller rival Dell Inc, which last week reported a 79 percent slide in profit and is now mired in a takeover battle between founder Michael Dell and activist investor Carl Icahn.

“This is another good deposit on the road to our turnaround here,” HP Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak said in an interview. “We are roughly where we want to be in total on the company.”

Enterprise services and printing units are “probably a little bit ahead,” she said, adding the two businesses helped drive the company’s gross margin improvement during the quarter.

HP’s net income fell to $1.08 billion, or 55 cents a share, from $1.59 billion, or 80 cents a share, a year earlier.

The company earned 87 cents per share on an operating basis during the second quarter on revenue of $27.6 billion.

HP had been expected to post earnings of 81 cents a share on revenue of just over $28 billion, according to the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For its fiscal third quarter, it estimated non-GAAP earnings per share of 84 to 87 cents, higher than 83 cents expected by Wall Street analysts.

Its shares, which have climbed 51 percent in 2013 as investors gradually gained confidence in its prospects, rose 13 percent to $24.08 in extended trading after closing at $21.23 on the New York Stock Exchange.

STEEP DECLINE IN PC SALES

HP, whose name is synonymous with the birth of Silicon Valley, has suffered years of turbulence. Whitman became HP’s third CEO in as many years after Leo Apotheker’s abrupt dismissal.

She is now pushing layoffs, cost cutting, and expansion into markets and areas with longer-term potential such as enterprise computing services. The move, intended to bolster margins, pits HP against the likes of IBM.

HP is laying off 29,000 employees over the next two years and has written off $10.8 billion mostly related to the writedown of its EDS services business.

Lesjak said so far the company had reduced 18,800 jobs and intends to cut a total of 26,000 by the end of the year.

On Wednesday, the company reported that revenue fell across HP’s main business divisions, with the steepest decline in the personal systems group. Sales from HP’s largest, PC-focused unit dived 20 percent to $7.58 billion.

But that same division recorded a 3.2 percent operating margin, up from about 2.7 percent in the previous quarter, as the company focused on improving profitability.

The printing division had the smallest revenue decline, of 1 percent, year over year, but the company said it had a “strong operating margin” of 15.8 percent.

HP generated $3.6 billion in cash flow during the quarter and used some of the funds to reduce net debt by $1.8 billion to $2.9 billion. The company had $13.6 billion in gross cash at the end of the quarter.

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Richard Chang and David Gregorio)

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As college students across the country graduate from universities or get ready to, student loan bills will await many of
them.

Related: Yes, Despite the Student Loan ‘Crisis,’ College IS Worth It

For the millennials that have already passed this milestone, paying off student loan debt is the top concern. Number one. That’s according to a Wells Fargo Retirement survey of 1,414 millennials between 22 and 32.

And it’s top of mind for good reason, it seems. More than half of them, 64%, say they financed school through student loans. For comparison to past generations, that’s double the amount of baby boomers who financed through loans.

Related: Only 150 of 3500 U.S. Colleges Are Worth the Investment: Former Secretary of Education

In general, debt is the biggest financial concern for more than half of them at 54%, according to the findings.

And while nearly two-thirds see themselves as “savers,” 49% say they’re saving for retirement while 51% say they have not begun to save because they don’t have the money (87%) or want to pay down debt first (81%).

“This generation seems to be in an either or situation, either I’m going to pay down debt or I’m going to save for retirement, but I can’t do both,” Karen Wimbish tells The Daily Ticker. Wimbish is director of Retail Retirement at Wells Fargo.

“The issue is that if you’re not saving early, you have this great time ahead of you for the value of compounding of your investments and riding market cycles. The volatility of the market actually works for you when you’re younger. So missing out on that for the first 10 or 15 years of your working life is going to have a significant implication when you get to the point where you’re thinking about retiring.”

Related: Are Millennials a “Lost Generation”?

Despite the “almost crushing level of debt” many in this generation face, they actually do believe they will have a better life than their parents did, according to Wimbush, though she points out some research indicates this may be the first generation that doesn’t have a life that is better than the generation before them.

The Daily Ticker Presents: Generation I.O.U.

Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! News and The Daily Ticker are teaming up to produce a special live streaming event on May 23 at 12:30 pm ET around the rising cost of college.

Are you burdened by student loan debt? Have you moved back home? Are you having trouble finding a job?

Tell us your story in 90 seconds or less and ask our experts a question. Upload your video to Flickr here. Or, send us an email at: thedailyticker@yahoo.com.

More from the Daily Ticker:

Larry Kudlow: Bernanke Was Right and I Was Wrong About Inflation

Apple’s Tax Dodging: Bigger Scandal Is Congress Knew About It Says David Cay Johnston

More Poor People Are Now Living in Suburbs Than Cities: Brookings

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There’s just about no tolerance left in America for wealthy people griping about their financial woes. But put down the pitchforks for a moment and consider one possible exception we might all learn something from.

The money-news site The Billfold recently ran an interview with an anonymous physician who earns $570,000 a year and says, “I know that technically I am in the 1%, but I don’t feel rich at all.” He went on to explain how he owns a home worth nearly $1 million, three cars, a couple of investment properties, and a chunk of a profitable healthcare company yet still frets that he doesn’t have enough. “I don’t feel secure,” he said. “Before I had a job, the six-figure mark was a goal for everyone. And now I’ve hit the half-million dollar mark. I don’t know if I’d feel rich if I ever met the seven-figure mark.”

Commenters howled, of course, deriding the discontented doc’s self-indulgence and making many predictable observations about materialism run amok. “It’s emblematic of the insane level of lifestyle creep that allows someone who makes $500k+ a year to feel not rich,” wrote one reader, reflecting the sentiment of many others.

The anonymous doc, whom the site dubbed “Jake Smith,” acknowledged his own materialistic impulses. “There is a palpable pressure to keep up with the Joneses,” he said of the social demands in his affluent community, which is in the suburbs of a sizeable eastern city, according to Logan Sachon of The Billfold. Yet he also showed a degree of restraint, making do, for instance, with a 7-year-old Lexus when many of his neighbors drive brand-new Range Rovers. That doesn’t exactly generate sympathy but it shows more self-awareness than the wealthy — or caricatures of the wealthy — are typically known for.

The lengthy QA also reveals a few legitimate concerns about money, whether you have a lot or a little. Here are four reasons to cut some slack to wealthy worriers such as the $570,000 man, assuming he actually exists: