Travelers shares rise as quarterly core profit jumps

Shares of property and casualty insurer Travelers Companies rose about 1% to $340 in premarket trading after the company said its second-quarter core profit jumped on lower catastrophe losses and strong investment income.

• Quarterly core income per share rose 44% to $10.04.
• Catastrophe losses were $518 million on a pre-tax basis, compared with $927 million a year earlier.
• Net investment income was $1.07 billion, up 13.6% from the year-earlier period.
• Up to the previous close, the shares were up about 16% year to date.