Interest Rates

Interest Rates

 

We are exposed to interest rate risk related to our investment portfolio and debt issuances. The primary objective of our investments in debt instruments is to preserve principal while maximizing yields. To achieve this objective, the returns on all of our investments in debt instruments are generally based on three-month LIBOR, or, if the maturities are longer than three months, the returns are generally swapped into U.S. dollar three-month LIBOR-based returns. We considered the historical volatility of the interest rates experienced in prior years and the duration of our investment portfolio and debt issuances, and determined that it was reasonably possible that an adverse change of 80 basis points (0.80%), approximately 17% of the rate at December 29, 2007 (15% of the rate at December 30, 2006), could be experienced in the near term. A hypothetical 0.80% decrease in interest rates, after taking into account hedges and offsetting positions, would have resulted in a decrease in the fair value of our net investment position of approximately $65 million as of December 29, 2007 and $50 million as of December 30, 2006. The decline reflects only the direct impact of the change in interest rates. Other economic variables, such as equity market fluctuations and changes in relative credit risk, could result in a significantly higher decline in our net investment portfolio.

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