** Shares of Florida-focused insurers jump premarket after Hurricane Milton makes landfall on Florida's west coast
** Heritage Insurance , Universal Insurance , and American Coastal Insurance up 7.8%, 9.2% and 7.8%, respectively
** Milton made landfall on Wednesday destroying homes and knocking out power to more than 3 mln people
** Citi analyst James Shuck said late Wednesday the best guess for insured losses is now around the $50 bln mark, adding that this is better than feared as Milton avoids Tampa Bay directly
** Prior to its landfall, analysts had expected Milton could lead to losses of up to $100 bln for the global insurance industry, and result in a jump in 2025 reinsurance prices
** Shuck added that the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) will probably not recover from Milton and ultimately a federal solution will be needed
** FHCF is a state trust fund that reimburses residential property insurance companies a portion of their catastrophic hurricane losses in Florida
(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru)
((ArasuKannagi.Basil@thomsonreuters.com;))
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