Note 6 - Investments (Tables)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2013

Investments [Abstract]

Total Debt And Equity Securities [Table Text Block]

Securities within our investment portfolio determined to be “held to maturity” and “available for sale” consisted of the following as of the dates indicated:

	September 30, 2013
(In thousands)	Amortized Cost		Fair Value		Gross Unrealized Gains		Gross Unrealized Losses
Fixed-maturities held to maturity:
Bonds and notes:
State and municipal obligations	$	428	$	421	$	—	$	7
	$	428	$	421	$	—	$	7
Fixed-maturities available for sale:
U.S. government and agency securities	$	3,465	$	3,714	$	249	$	—
State and municipal obligations	12,309		11,792		22		539
Corporate bonds and notes	7,463		7,493		457		427
RMBS	74,187		75,491		1,304		—
Other investments	395		422		27		—
	$	97,819	$	98,912	$	2,059	$	966
Equity securities available for sale (1)	$	78,106	$	121,868	$	43,762	$	—
Total debt and equity securities	$	176,353	$	221,201	$	45,821	$	973

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(1) Comprising broadly diversified domestic equity mutual funds ($116.7 million fair value) and various preferred and common stocks invested across numerous companies and industries ($5.2 million fair value) that are carried at cost.

	December 31, 2012
(In thousands)	Amortized Cost		Fair Value		Gross Unrealized Gains		Gross Unrealized Losses
Fixed-maturities held to maturity:
Bonds and notes:
State and municipal obligations	$	679	$	676	$	3	$	6
	$	679	$	676	$	3	$	6
Fixed-maturities available for sale:
U.S. government and agency securities	$	4,969	$	5,305	$	336	$	—
State and municipal obligations	17,922		17,995		116		43
Corporate bonds and notes	15,618		16,369		1,110		359
RMBS	50		51		3		2
Other investments	922		976		54		—
	$	39,481	$	40,696	$	1,619	$	404
Equity securities available for sale (1)	$	88,260	$	112,139	$	23,879	$	—
Total debt and equity securities	$	128,420	$	153,511	$	25,501	$	410

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(1) Comprising broadly diversified domestic equity mutual funds ($98.9 million fair value) and various preferred and common stocks invested across numerous companies and industries ($13.2 million fair value) that are carried at cost.

Trading Securities (and Certain Trading Assets) [Table Text Block]

The trading securities within our investment portfolio, which are recorded at fair value, consisted of the following as of the dates indicated:

(In thousands)	September 30, 2013		December 31, 2012
Trading securities:
U.S. government and agency securities	$	413,169	$	428,519
State and municipal obligations	623,899		669,975
Corporate bonds and notes	1,097,034		1,357,175
RMBS	528,103		663,307
CMBS	294,752		237,294
Other ABS	204,187		254,102
Foreign government securities (1)	—		117,686
Hybrid securities	417		211,944
Equity securities	88,435		153,722
Other investments	938		898
Total	$	3,250,934	$	4,094,622

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(1) As of September 30, 2013, there were no foreign government securities in our investment portfolio. We sold our investment in foreign government securities during the first quarter of 2013, as our market view of these investments changed, and their performance did not meet our expectations.

Schedule Of Unrealized Losses [Table Text Block]

The following tables show the gross unrealized losses and fair value of our securities deemed “available for sale” and “held to maturity,” aggregated by investment category and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position, as of the dates indicated:

September 30, 2013: ($ in thousands) Description of Securities	Less Than 12 Months					12 Months or Greater					Total
	# of securities	Fair Value		Unrealized Losses		# of securities	Fair Value		Unrealized Losses		# of securities	Fair Value		Unrealized Losses
State and municipal obligations	—	$	—	$	—	3	$	5,506	$	546	3	$	5,506	$	546
Corporate bonds and notes	—	—		—		2	2,976		427		2	2,976		427
Total	—	$	—	$	—	5	$	8,482	$	973	5	$	8,482	$	973

December 31, 2012: ($ in thousands) Description of Securities	Less Than 12 Months					12 Months or Greater					Total
	# of securities	Fair Value		Unrealized Losses		# of securities	Fair Value		Unrealized Losses		# of securities	Fair Value		Unrealized Losses
State and municipal obligations	—	$	—	$	—	2	$	6,004	$	49	2	$	6,004	$	49
Corporate bonds and notes	—	—		—		6	5,329		359		6	5,329		359
RMBS	1	31		2		—	—		—		1	31		2
Total	1	$	31	$	2	8	$	11,333	$	408	9	$	11,364	$	410

Investments Classified by Contractual Maturity Date [Table Text Block]

The contractual maturities of fixed-maturity investments are as follows:

	September 30, 2013
	Held to Maturity				Available for Sale
(In thousands)	Amortized Cost		Fair Value		Amortized Cost		Fair Value
Due in one year or less (1)	$	—	$	—	$	3,483	$	3,137
Due after one year through five years (1)	120		120		5,249		5,496
Due after five years through ten years (1)	—		—		639		654
Due after ten years (1)	308		301		14,261		14,134
RMBS (2)	—		—		74,187		75,491
Total	$	428	$	421	$	97,819	$	98,912

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(1) Actual maturities may differ as a result of calls before scheduled maturity.

(2) RMBS are shown separately given their varying maturity dates.