high levels of covid19 deaths hurt fourthquarter results in metlife inc’s business of providing employersponsored life insurance as the delta variant persisted in the us but the outsize payouts were more than offset by unusually strong investment gains the new york company’s net income soared to 118 billion up from 124 million a year earlier when results were hurt by marktomarket losses on financial hedges that aim to protect against falling interest rates metlife’s adjusted earnings which analysts track as a measure of recurring profitability were flat at 184 billion