Validus misses Street view as earnings slump

Validus, the (re)insurer being acquired by AIG, missed
analysts' fourth quarter earnings estimates, posting a deeply
shrunken profit as its loss ratio ballooned and the combined ratio
deteriorated sharply compared with the year-earlier period.
The (re)insurer posted an operating profit of $0.05 a share,
while analysts had anticipated $0.84 per share, based on the
average of eight forecasts compiled by MarketWatch.
The company cited a $36.8mn insurance underwriting loss as well
as surging corpora