Insurance stocks are rising as Hurricane Irma damage is likely to be less than expected

Jalon Manson Shortte/AP

This Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017 photo shows storm damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands. Irma scraped Cuba's northern coast Friday on a course toward Florida, leaving in its wake a ravaged string of Caribbean resort islands strewn with splintered lumber, corrugated metal and broken concrete.

Hurricane Irma continues to rampage across Florida, knocking out power in much of the state. However, damage caused by the storm is looking to be less than expected, and insurance stocks are rising on the news.

Irma has been downgraded to a tropical storm Monday morning after hitting the Florida keys as a category 4 hurricane. The S&P insurance exchange traded fund is up 2.06% on Monday morning, as reports from the affected areas in Florida roll in.

The ETF was falling in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and in anticipatation Irma hit Florida. It fell greater than 2% on more than one occassion last weekm but actually gained nearly 3% on Friday, just days before Irma made landfall in Florida.

Here is a list of some of the biggest insurance companies and how much they have moved on Monday...

• Fidelity National (FNF) +1.28% $47.71
• Progressive (PGR) +2.11% $46.38
• First American Financial (FAF) +1.70% $48.98
• Arch Capital Group (ACGL) +2.99% $96.75
• Chubb (CB) +3.27% $146.06
• Allstate (ALL) +1.85% $91.31
• Navigators Group (NAVG) +0.62% $57.15
• Selective Insurance Group (SIGI) +2.78% $49.95
• Cincinnati Financial (CINF) +0.77% $0.87
• Kingstone Companies (KINS) +2.78 $14.80

Destruction from Hurricane Irma, while less than expected, still devastated parts of the Caribbean and caused heavy destruction in areas of Florida. 5.8 million homes and businesses are currently without power because of the storm, and Irma was the cause for the largest evacuation in history.

Irma is now headed through the northern parts of Florida toward Georgia and Alabama.

For the latest news on Irma, click here...