Insurer MetLife sent a chill throughout the entire insurance industry Wednesday, after the company reported a 48 percent drop in third quarter earnings due to its exposure to Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, and AIG. It life insurer announced that it will need to cut jobs and sell an additional 75 million shares in order to raise capital.

MetLife reported a 37 percent loss in revenues for the first quarter due to the plummeting dollar and losses related to its investment portfolio. It's investment portfolio reported a loss of $614 million or 84 cents per share.