So far, insurers don't show big second-quarter mortgage losses

"It would seem to me that we would be in the early stages of a credit cycle, a down part of the credit cycle," Binner said. "You would expect that these things would continue to happen."

And they have.

Allstate Corp. posted a 98 percent drop in net income after the auto and homeowner insurer said it suffered losses on some of its big mortgage-related investments. The company suffered $1.2 billion of realized losses in the latest quarter, mainly on securities that have dropped in value as the housing bust deepened.

At Genworth Financial, write-offs of mortgages and asset-backed securities related to subprime and Alt-A mortgages were $326 million in the second quarter. Alt-A mortgages are given to people with minor credit problems or who lack proper documentation to get a traditional prime loan, while subprime mortgage loans are given to customers with poor credit histories.

And while MetLife Inc.'s second-quarter results were also by market turmoil, Chief Investment Officer Steve Kandarian said in an investor call last week that the company holds few of the risky investments that have been the cause of billions of dollars of write-downs for other financial firms.

At the end of June, Kandarian said, MetLife had cut its holding of Alt-A mortgages to $4.9 billion and was not buying any more. It had subprime mortgage investments of $1.8 billion.

MetLife has $1.4 billion in CDO exposure. However, Kandarian said 98 percent of the company's holdings were rated investment grade, indicating a lower risk of default.

Investors will also look to Ambac Financial, which posted a steep loss in the first quarter as turmoil in the bond market pummeled the value of many of the bond insurer's deals.

Bond insurers like Ambac Financial have struggled since late 2007 as ratings agencies worried there will be a spike in claims, as bonds backed by troubled mortgages are likely to default. The rise in claims would severely cut into cash reserves for some bond insurers and potentially put others out of business.

On Friday, Ambac Financial said it settled one of its largest exposures to risky collateralized debt obligations. The agreed to pay $850 million to end an insurance agreement covering a $1.4 billion CDO transaction.

Analysts forecast a loss of 64 cents per share.