INSURANCE

Insurers Buoyed by Allstate Stock Sale: Property and casualty insurers, who have suffered from recent catastrophes, say investors snapped up Allstate Corp.’s initial stock offering because they sense premiums are about to rise markedly. “People expect rates to increase and profits to increase,” said Jesse Watkins, managing partner of Herbert L. Jamison & Co. “They sense a market change.” The interest was evident in the Allstate stock sale, the largest initial public offering ever, which brought its parent, Sears, Roebuck & Co., about $2.43 billion. Insurers hope that rates will begin to rise by the end of the year to help offset losses from catastrophes such as Hurricane Andrew, the World Trade Center bombing in New York and the March storm that swept through the Eastern United States.