PENSION AND OTHER POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS

9 Months Ended

Jul. 31, 2013

PENSION AND OTHER POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS

PENSION AND OTHER POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS

(7) The Company has several defined benefit pension plans and defined benefit postretirement health care and life insurance plans covering its U.S. employees and employees in certain foreign countries.

The worldwide components of net periodic pension cost consisted of the following in millions of dollars:

	Three Months Ended July 31						Nine Months Ended July 31
	2013			2012			2013			2012
Service cost	$	68		$	55		$	204		$	164
Interest cost	107			116			329			349
Expected return on plan assets	(193		)	(197		)	(583		)	(590		)
Amortization of actuarial loss	66			49			194			149
Amortization of prior service cost	9			10			25			31
Settlements/curtailments				1			1			3
Net cost	$	57		$	34		$	170		$	106

The worldwide components of net periodic postretirement benefits cost (health care and life insurance) consisted of the following in millions of dollars:

	Three Months Ended July 31						Nine Months Ended July 31
	2013			2012			2013			2012
Service cost	$	14		$	12		$	43		$	35
Interest cost	64			70			191			210
Expected return on plan assets	(21		)	(25		)	(63		)	(75		)
Amortization of actuarial loss	35			45			105			105
Amortization of prior service credit	(2		)	(3		)	(4		)	(11		)
Net cost	$	90		$	99		$	272		$	264

For fiscal year 2012, the participants in one of the Company’s postretirement health care plans became “almost all” inactive as described by the applicable accounting standards due to additional retirements.  As a result, beginning in 2012, the net actuarial loss for this plan in the table above was amortized over the longer period for the average remaining life expectancy of the inactive participants rather than the average remaining service period of the active participants.

During the first nine months of 2013, the Company contributed approximately $267 million to its pension plans and $19 million to its other postretirement benefit plans.  The Company presently anticipates contributing an additional $20 million to its pension plans and $9 million to its other postretirement benefit plans in the remainder of fiscal year 2013.  These contributions include payments from Company funds to either increase plan assets or make direct payments to plan participants.