Financial Instruments (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Fair Value Balance Sheet Grouping Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]

Summary of Financial Instruments

The following table presents the financial instruments that are not carried at fair value but which require fair value disclosure as December 31, 2013 and 2014:

	December 31, 2013				December 31, 2014
	Carrying		Fair		Carrying		Fair
	Amount		Value		Amount		Value
	(In thousands)
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash	$	57,639	$	57,639	$	77,975	$	77,975
Noncontrolling interest in CompX common stock		13,615		23,119		14,428		19,936
NL stockholders' equity		355,380		544,174		237,022		418,673

Level 1

Fair Value Balance Sheet Grouping Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]

Valuation of Short-Term Investments and Marketable Securities

The following table summarizes the valuation of our short-term investments and marketable securities on a fair value basis as of December 31, 2013 and 2014:

	Fair value measurements
	Total		Quotedprices in active markets (Level 1)		Significant other observable inputs (Level 2)		Significant unobservable inputs (Level 3)
	(In thousands
December 31, 2013
Marketable securities	$	252,677	$	252,677	$	-	$	-
December 31, 2014
Marketable securities	$	92,131	$	92,131	$	-	$	-