A senator's comments on Wednesday caused stocks of insurance companies to turn sharply lower Thursday. Senator Harry Reid said Wednesday that if the House failed to pass the $700 billion bailout deal, a well-known insurer's solvency would be threatened, Reuters reports. On Thursday night Reid back-tracked on the remarks, but the damage was done.

Thursday, shares of Hartford, which runs Hartford Investment Management, fell 32 percent from $38.11 per share at the close on October 1 to $25.91 on October 2. Shares of Manulife, whose John Hancock subsidiary runs funds, fell from 6.2 percent $36.66 to $34.40. Principal fell 16.3 percent from $37.64 to $31.52. And JennisonDryden funds' parent Prudential 12.4 percent from $64.80 to $57.65.

So how are they doing today? As of a little after 2 p.m. on Friday, Hartford's stock had climbed 19.88 percent to $31.06. ManuLife was up 0.44 percent to $34.60. MetLife was up 7.54 percent to $44.05. Principal was up 0.63 percent to $31.72. And Pru was up 1.63 percent to $58.58. 

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