Marsh forecast: Expect insurance rates to rise.

The slowdown on Wall Street will have yet another, perhaps unexpected, effect on your company's bottom line: You're going to find it harder in the coming months to find inexpensive rates for property and casualty insurance.

Insurance companies are no longer willing to depend on their investment returns to make a profit. So they are getting tough on rates this year, according to a new forecast from insurance giant Marsh Inc.

"Decreases in rates had become routine," says Eric Schake, managing director at Marsh's Dallas office. "The competition for business was that intense and the investment returns were big enough to offset the losses. That's changed. The …