Fair Value Measurements

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Fair Value Measurements [Abstract]

Fair value measurements

NOTE 3

Fair value measurements. The Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures Topic of the FASB ASC defines fair value as the exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in the principal, or most advantageous, market for the asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The Fair Value Measurements Topic establishes a three-level fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs used to measure fair value. This hierarchy requires entities to maximize the use of observable inputs when possible. The three levels of inputs used to measure fair value are as follows:

• Level 1 — quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities;

• Level 2 — observable inputs other than quoted prices included in Level 1, such as quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets; quoted prices for identical or similar assets and liabilities in markets that are not active; or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data; and

• Level 3 — unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity and that are significant to the fair values of the assets or liabilities, including certain pricing models, discounted cash flow methodologies and similar techniques that use significant unobservable inputs.

As of September 30, 2011, financial instruments measured at fair value on a recurring basis are summarized below:

					Fair value
	Level 1		Level 2		measurements
			($000 omitted)
Short-term investments		32,472		—		32,472
Investments available-for-sale:
Debt securities:
Municipal		—		33,382		33,382
Corporate and utilities		—		235,572		235,572
Foreign		161,198		—		161,198
U.S. Government		22,648		—		22,648
Equity securities		4,488		—		4,488
		220,806		268,954		489,760

As of September 30, 2011, Level 1 financial instruments consist of short-term investments, U.S. and foreign government bonds and equity securities. Level 2 financial instruments consist of municipal and corporate bonds. The municipal bonds are valued using a third-party pricing service, and the corporate bonds are valued using actual transaction levels, independent broker/dealer quotes or information, or a combination thereof. When no relevant broker/dealer information can be obtained, the third-party service price will be used. The third-party pricing service for both municipal and corporate bonds determines a consensus price derived from prices provided by various broker/dealers that meet certain statistical requirements within a predefined statistical deviation. If a consensus price cannot be determined, then the third-party providing service, by using a recognized pricing model, a theoretical value, based on where similar bonds, as defined by credit quality and market sector have traded, is used.