NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hartford Financial Group (HIG.N) and MetLife Inc, (MET.N), two of the biggest insurers in the United States, posted net losses on Thursday as souring fixed income investments bit into their bottom lines. Stocks  |  Bonds  |  Global Markets  |  JapanThe results in both cases were worse than analysts had expected, and the insurers' shares dropped after hours, with Hartford down more than 10 percent.Both insurers lost money, but the news was worse for Hartford, which has posted losses in the last three quarters. MetLife's operating income was 20 cents a share, compared with average forecasts of 34 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.In after-hours trading, MetLife's shares fell 4 percent to $28.52 from their close earlier on Thursday of $29.75. Hartford's shares dropped 11.2 percent to $10.19.(Reporting by Dan Wilchins; Editing Bernard Orr) Stocks Bonds Global Markets Japan. NEW YORK (Reuters) - MetLife Inc, (MET.N) the largest U.S.

life insurer, posted a first-quarter loss as its investment income dropped.MetLife posted a quarterly net loss of $574 million, or 71 cents a share, compared with net income of $615 million, or 84 cents, the same quarter last year.Life insurers have been hammered by weakening financial markets that have cut into their investment income. Declining equity markets have also cut into insurers' income from retirement products like annuities.MetLife's shares have shed roughly half their value since the start of 2008.(Reporting by Dan Wilchins, editing by Leslie Gevirtz). WASHINGTON, DC, Apr 30 (MARKET WIRE) -- The global economic crisis is likely to last a long time, the ChiefEconomist of the World Bank, Justin Yifu Lin, told participants at theCommittee of 100's 18th Annual Conference that opened today. "Howprotracted the crisis will be depends very much on government action. If agovernment knows how to act, then we can turn this crisis into anopportunity for inclusive and sustainable growth in the future."Lin said that the crisis has turned from being a financial one toaffecting real economies. There is excess capacity and severeunder-utilization of capacity Demand is falling, while investment isdropping. Unemployment, meanwhile, is rising sharply in many economies.Meanwhile, many people have lost their pensions and have had to curtailconsumption.

Many economies must now go through a period of deleveraging.Credit is not yet flowing, and trade is shrinking. All this is furtherundermining consumer confidence, making the situation even worse."The crisis is global," said Lin. "With excess capacity, the unemploymentrate will increase and the pressure for protectionism will rise. In thissituation, we need to have Keynesian government intervention to increasespending to boost demand." Both China and the U.S have implemented suchfiscal stimulus plans. Added Lin: "We project that the global economy canrecover in 2010 but even if it does, the utilization of capacity will below."While the G20 countries have reached consensus on the need for fiscalstimulus, the key is to focus spending on projects that will spurproductivity and efficiency and reduce bottlenecks to growth, Lin toldparticipants.

Target sectors might include infrastructure and greeninitiatives designed to address climate change. "This will enhance thegrowth potential" once recovery takes hold, said Lin. It is important forhigh-income countries to give loans to low-income nations to help theminvest in projects that reduce bottlenecks, he concluded.For more information about the Committee of 100 Annual Conference, pleasevisit Committee of 100 (C-100) is a national non-partisan, non-profitmembership organization comprised of prominent Chinese Americans in abroad range of professions. With their knowledge and experience, theCommittee has dedicated its efforts to a dual mission: (1) encouragingconstructive relations between the peoples of the United States andGreater China, and (2) encouraging the full participation of ChineseAmericans in all aspects of American life. An Ping(917) 670-5871Email ContactCopyright 2009, Market Wire, All rights reserved.-0-. * Emerging stocks post strongest monthly rally in 14 years* Mexico shuts down to avoid spread of flu virus* Colombian cenbank cuts rate by 100 bps, economy stalls* Chile's industrial output falls for sixth straight month* By Walter Brandimarte NEW YORK, April 30 (Reuters) - Emerging equity marketsdropped on Thursday but staged their strongest monthly rally inmore than 14 years in April as positive U.S economic dataraised hopes that the recession is abating. The MSCI stock index for emerging markets .MSCIEF soared16.24 percent in April, its best performance since Dec 1994,following sizable gains of 14.15 percent in March.

The Latin American portion of the MSCI indicator.MILA00000PUS jumped 15.78 percent in April after gains of10.64 percent in March. "The market is euphoric, it reminds me of the last year'shighs," said Luiz Roberto Monteiro, investment analyst at SouzaBarros brokerage in Sao Paulo, warning against a possible"bubble" in stock prices. But Latin American stocks gave back part of their recentgains, as Wall Street retreated on anxiety related to abankruptcy filing by Chrysler LLC. The MSCI stock index for Latin America closed 0.28 percentlower, with Mexico's IPC index .MXX declining 0.82 percent.