The insurance sector is among the prime beneficiaries of higher rates for a longer period. This is because the sector players are able to earn higher returns on their investment portfolio of longer-duration bonds. However, these firms incur losses as the value of longer-duration bonds goes down with a rise in interest rates. Nevertheless, since insurance companies have long-term investment horizons, they can hold investments until maturity, and hence, no actual losses are realized. Additionally, decent earnings reports have helped the sector to survive the market rout seen last month. SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (ARCA:KIE) and iShares U.S. Insurance ETF (ARCA:IAK) are down about just 0.6% each over the past month, while Invesco KBW Property & Casualty Insurance ETF (NASDAQ: KBWP) is relatively flat. Insurance Earnings in Focus The U.S. life insurance behemoth MetLife (NYSE: MET) matched earnings estimates but missed revenue estimates. MetLife reported earnings of $1.83 per share, which were on par with the Zacks Consensus Estimate and improved 20.4% from the year-ago quarter. Revenues climbed 5.5% year over year to $17 billion and were below the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. The second-largest U.S. life insurer Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU) missed on earnings but beat estimates on revenues. Earnings per share of $3.12 lagged the Zacks Consensus ...