Note 7 - Available-for-Sale Investments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Notes to Financial Statements

Investments in Debt and Marketable Equity Securities (and Certain Trading Assets) Disclosure [Text Block]

7.      Available-for-Sale Investments

At September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, the Company held $0 million and $100 million of short-term investments (U.S. government and agency securities), respectively.  At September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, the Company held long-term investments of $30 million and $33 million in asset-backed securities, respectively.  The Company’s investments in available-for-sale securities are held at fair value with amortized cost of $33 million and $37 million at September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively.

We have no plans to sell, nor do we believe it is more likely than not that we would be required to sell, the long-term investment asset-backed securities (which are collateralized by mortgages) before recovery of their amortized cost basis.  It is possible that a significant degradation in the delinquency or foreclosure rates in the underlying assets could cause further temporary or other-than-temporary impairments in the future.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, proceeds from sales and maturities of short-term investments totaled approximately $121 million and $1.0 billion, respectively.