Fair Value (Policies)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2011

Fair Value

Fair value of financial instruments

Our available-for-sale and trading securities are recorded at fair value, which is the price that would be received to sell the asset in an orderly transaction between willing market participants as of the measurement date. Valuation techniques used to derive the fair value of our available-for-sale and trading securities are based on observable and unobservable inputs.  Observable inputs reflect market data obtained from independent sources. Unobservable inputs reflect our own assumptions regarding fair market value for these securities.  Although the majority of our prices are obtained from third party sources, we also perform an internal pricing review for securities with low trading volumes in the current market conditions.  Financial instruments are categorized based upon the following characteristics or inputs to the valuation techniques:

Level 1Quoted prices for identical instruments in active markets not subject to adjustments or discounts.

Level 2Quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets; quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and model-derived valuations whose inputs are observable or whose significant value drivers are observable.

Level 3Instruments whose significant value drivers are unobservable and reflect management’s estimate of fair value based on assumptions used by market participants in an orderly transaction as of the valuation date.