Fair Value Measurements

12 Months Ended

Jan. 28, 2012

Fair Value Measurements [Abstract]

Fair Value Measurements

3. Fair Value Measurements

ASC No. 820, "Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures," requires fair value measurements be classified and disclosed in one of the following three categories:

Level 1:	Financial instruments with unadjusted, quoted prices listed on active market exchanges.
Level 2:	Financial instruments lacking unadjusted, quoted prices from active market exchanges, including over-the-counter traded financial instruments. The prices for the financial instruments are determined using prices for recently traded financial instruments with similar underlying terms as well as directly or indirectly observable inputs, such as interest rates and yield curves that are observable at commonly quoted intervals.
Level 3:	Financial instruments that are not actively traded on a market exchange. This category includes situations where there is little, if any, market activity for the financial instrument. The prices are determined using significant unobservable inputs or valuation techniques.

Our cash and cash equivalents and long-term debt are financial instruments classified as a Level 1 pricing category. The carrying value of our cash and cash equivalents approximates fair value because maturities are three months or less. Based on quoted market prices, the estimated fair value of our senior debt was approximately $2.4 billion at January 28, 2012 and $2.1 billion at January 29, 2011.

As of January 28, 2012, the par value of our long-term investments was $193 million and the estimated fair value was $153 million. Our long-term investments consist primarily of investments in auction rate securities, ("ARS"), which are long-term debt instruments with interest rates which originally reset through periodic short-term auctions. Beginning in February 2008, liquidity issues in the global credit markets resulted in the failure of auctions for all of our ARS. A "failed" auction occurs when the amount of securities submitted for sale in the auction exceeds the amount of purchase bids. As a result, holders are unable to liquidate their investment through the auction. A failed auction is not a default of the debt instrument, but does set a new interest rate in accordance with the terms of the debt instrument. A failed auction limits liquidity for holders until there is a successful auction or until such time as another market for ARS develops. ARS are generally callable by the issuer at any time. Scheduled auctions continue to be held until the ARS matures or is called.

To date, we have collected all interest payable on outstanding ARS when due and expect to continue to do so in the future. At this time, we have no reason to believe that any of the underlying issuers of our ARS or their insurers are presently at risk or that the reduced liquidity has had a significant impact on the underlying credit quality of the assets backing our ARS. While the auction failures limit our ability to liquidate these investments, we do not believe these failures will have a significant impact on our ability to fund ongoing operations and growth initiatives.

We intend to hold these ARS until maturity or until we can liquidate them at par value. Based on our other sources of liquidity, we do not believe we will be required to sell them before recovery of par value. Therefore, impairment charges are considered temporary and have been included in Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss within our Consolidated Balance Sheet. In certain cases, holding the investments until recovery may mean until maturity, which ranges from 2015 to 2041. The weighted-average maturity date is 2033. As a result of the persistent failed auctions and the uncertainty of when these investments could be successfully liquidated at par, we have recorded all of our ARS as Long-term Investments within the Consolidated Balance Sheet.

The fair value for our ARS is based on third-party pricing models and is classified as a Level 3 pricing category. We utilized a discounted cash flow model to estimate the current fair market value for each of the securities we owned as there was no recent activity in the secondary markets in these types of securities. This model used unique inputs for each security including discount rate, interest rate currently being paid and maturity. The discount rate was calculated using the closest match available for other insured asset backed securities. A market failure scenario was employed as recent successful auctions of these securities were very limited.

The following table presents a rollforward of our long-term investments, all of which are measured at fair value on a recurring basis using unobservable inputs (Level 3):

	2011			2010
	(In Millions)
Balance at beginning of year	$	277		$	321
Sales		(145	)		(42	)
Unrealized gains / (losses)		21			(2	)
Balance at end of year	$	153		$	277