The Estée Lauder CompaniesInvestor Relations:Dennis D`Andrea, 212-572-4384orMedia Relations:Alexandra Trower, 212-572-4430 Copyright Business Wire 2009. http://(Business Wire)–Zacks announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every daythe Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impactingstocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include:Hartford Financial Services Group Inc (NYSE: HIG), Lincoln Financial Group(NYSE: LNC), Allstate Corp (NYSE: ALL), Prudential Financial Inc (NYSE: PRU)and Ameriprise Financial Inc (NYSE: AMP). Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit fromthe Pros newsletter: are highlights from Monday`sAnalyst Blog: Insurers Eye TARP FundsThe Treasury had stated that some of the life insurers may qualify for TARPbecause of their Bank Holding Company status.

As of now, considering therepayments from banks, Treasury has approved six life insurers for capitalinfusion under TARP. Among the other insurers, Hartford Financial Services Group Inc (NYSE: HIG) isthe first to receive government money. On June 24, 2009, HIG acquired FederalTrust to satisfy a key eligibility requirement for its participation in theCapital Purchase Program (CPP) and received $3.4 billion from the Treasury. Lincoln Financial Group (NYSE: LNC) was the second of the six insurers that gotpermission to receive TARP fund. On July 10, 2009, LNC raised $2.1 billion ofcapital by selling $950 million of preferred shares to the government under theTARP. The company also issued $690 million of common stock and $500 million ofsenior notes Besides these two, Allstate Corp (NYSE: ALL), Prudential Financial Inc (NYSE:PRU), Ameriprise Financial Inc. (NYSE: AMP) and one other were the othercompanies approved to receive TARP funds.

The ongoing turmoil in the financial markets as a whole has resulted in a highlychallenging environment for the U.S. insurance industry, a trend that isexpected to continue at least through the end of 2009 We also expect furtherconsolidation in the industry. Want more from Zacks Equity Research? Subscribe to the free Profit from the Prosnewsletter: About Zacks Equity ResearchZacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysisto help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term. Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks.Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights todevelopments that affect company profits and stock performance.

Recommendationsand target prices are six-month time horizons. Zacks “Profit from the Pros” e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latestanalysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: ZacksZacks is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patternsin stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst hismany accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system;the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1margin.