Hurricane costs batter insurers as Jose looms

LLOYD’S insurers were nervously monitoring the path of Hurricane Jose this weekend amid the costliest hurricane season since 2005.

Losses from Hurricane Harvey and then Irma have been so significant some fear insurance premiums could rise across the board.

Hurricane Jose was circling around the Atlantic off the US coast this weekend, with some insurance risk experts downplaying the prospect of it causing major losses. But there is an outside chance it could hit the East Coast.

Insurers’ shares soared last week after the eye of Irma narrowly missed Miami, where insured losses promised to be considerable. But it is still likely to have been one of the costliest storms in US history, causing up to $40billion (£29 billion) of payouts.