NEW YORK—Moody’s Investors Service said Tuesday that it expects key financial ratios used to monitor U.S. property/casualty insurers to recover significantly in 2009 given improving investment returns and relatively few catastrophe losses during the past year.

The recovery in 2009 “follows a very poor year in 2008, and it occurred in spite of a weak pricing environment for all insurance products,” New York-based Moody’s said in a statement.

The rating agency cautioned, however, that significant challenges exist for the industry as it moves into 2010.

There is little evidence of a potential turn in the pricing cycle, so revenue declines are highly likely while investment volatility remains high “in light of the fragile state of the economy and capital markets,” Moody’s said in the statement.

The report, Deterioration in U.S. P&C Insurance Seen in Key Financial Ratios, is available at www.moodys.com.