See below for a detailed list of the companies and ratings

(See below for a detailed list of the companies and ratings.)These ratings reflect Endurance`s solid level of risk-adjusted capitalization,favorable historical operating performance and evolving business profile.Additionally, the ratings reflect the underwriting and risk management controlsin place, which has been enhanced in recent years, enabling the company tobetter analyze correlation risk on all submissions, accumulate zonalaggregations and determine each submission`s effect on capital usage andoperating returns. Partially offsetting these strengths are the competitive conditions in theprimary insurance markets and the challenges in the investment markets Theoutlook reflects A.M. Best`s expectation that operating performance shouldbenefit from hardening reinsurance pricing and comparatively less volatileinvestment returns due to Endurance`s conservative investment posture. Despite a very challenging underwriting environment during 2008, due in part tolarge losses from hurricane activity in the Atlantic, Endurance reported acombined ratio of 93.5% for the year.

Net losses of approximately $145 millionfrom hurricanes Ike and Gustav were well within the company`s risk tolerance andwere a marked improvement from the outsized losses reported from the 2005hurricane season. This is due to several initiatives implemented following the2005 hurricane season including the elimination of business due to excessivecorrelations, exiting marine and energy lines, reducing risk tolerances for windand earthquake and making improvements to underwriting systems and controls.Overall performance in 2008 also was negatively impacted by the turmoil infinancial markets, with Endurance reporting a total return on the investmentportfolio of negative 3.4% Overall, book value per share declined 5.7% for theyear. While these metrics declined significantly from previous years, they arein line with the company`s peer group. Although Endurance`s performance hasfluctuated over the most recent five-year period, return metrics over the periodremain supportive of the current rating levels. The FSR of A (Excellent) and ICRs of "a" have been affirmed for EnduranceSpecialty Insurance Ltd. and its following affiliates:* Endurance Reinsurance Corporation of America* Endurance Worldwide Insurance Limited* Endurance American Specialty Insurance Company* Endurance American Insurance Company* American Merchants Casualty CompanyThe ICR of "bbb" has been affirmed for Endurance Specialty Holdings, Ltd. Best Company is a global full-service credit ratingorganization dedicated to serving the financial and health care serviceindustries, including insurance companies, banks, hospitals and health caresystem providers.

For more information, visit A.M Best Co.AnalystsMark Murray, 908-439-2200, ext. orRobert DeRose, 908-439-2200, ext orPublic RelationsJim Peavy, 908-439-2200, ext. orRachelle Morrow, 908-439-2200, ext. Copyright Business Wire 2009. This article originally appeared on PhillyFanComplex Every year, there is a Biggest Game Ever, also known as The Game to End All Others and The Most Important Game of Their Lives. We see it in football, baseball, hockey, and basketball, on the college and professional levels, in high schools, and, naturally, in the Olympics.With that in mind, it's hard to put into perspective how big Sunday's gold-medal game between the U.S and Canada is. No matter who wins, the players comprising both teams will break and go their separate directions, back to their NHL employers to jump right into the stretch run of the regular season.Little time will be left for celebration and/or dismay, but today they play for country, for that classic symbol of team on the front of the jersey.

Two teams stocked full of millionaires and future millionaires are playing, for free, for national pride.That ought to tell you something.By virtue of having played each other, one team was guaranteed to lose at least one game in these Olympics. USA won that first meeting last Sunday, 5-3, one win out of five that has them sitting 5-0 and in position to finish with no worse than a silver medal. No one comes for silver, though, especially not a country with a proud hockey tradition.Anything but gold will be a disappointment, not in the sense of expectation, but in the sense that the chance for gold was theirs.Few knew what to expect out of Team USA heading into the Olympics. GM Brian Burke did not have the wealth of talent available to Canada (though it was far from Norwegian levels).He had to make certain choices in constructing this team with an eye towards how they would play. He chose the top American players in the game, like Patrick Kane, Zach Parise, and Bobby Ryan, but built it as an actual hockey team, complete with gritty role players, unlike Canada, who stacked the bottom line with top-line NHL players who happen to play with grit.The result was a tenacious forechecking squad willing to sell out on defense and play hockey The Right Way.The Canadians, meanwhile, had (and still have) the weight of the world on their shoulders. It's not as if they haven't experienced that type of pressure before, but they haven't exactly thrived on it.