Pension & Postretirement Expenses

3 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Defined Benefit Pension Plans and Defined Benefit Postretirement Plans Disclosure [Abstract]

Pension And Postretirement Plan Expenses

Total periodic pension and postretirement expense is summarized below (in millions):

	Three Months Ended December 31,
	2014			2015
Service cost	$	27		22
Interest cost	60			50
Expected return on plan assets	(92		)	(88	)
Net amortization	43			40
Total	$	38		24

Beginning in 2016, the Company refined the method used to determine the service and interest cost components of pension expense for its U.S. plans. The specific spot rates along the yield curve, rather than the single weighted-average rate previously used, are now applied to the projected cash flows to provide more precise measurement of these costs. This is a change in estimate which has been accounted for prospectively in the 2016 financial statements. The discount rates used to measure service and interest cost were 4.6 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively, compared with the single weighted-average rate of 4.35 percent which would have been used. The change will reduce interest and service cost by a total of $38 million ($0.04 per share) for fiscal 2016 compared with the cost measured using the weighted-average rate.