Overly high rates defy SEC.(Raytheon Co., Boeing Co., Dow Chemical Co., and Pfizer Inc. interest rates)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Pensions & Investments, August, 2001 by Anand, Vineeta

WASHINGTON - Some of the nation's largest companies are defying gravity and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Even though interest rates began falling last year, Raytheon Co., Boeing Co. and Dow Chemical Co. bumped up the interest rates they use to calculate the present value of their future pension liabilities, as evident in their 2000 annual reports.

Raytheon and Boeing raised their discount rates to 7.75% at the end of 2000 from 7.5% at the end of 1999, and Dow Chemical lifted its interest rate assumption to 7.5% from 7.25% a year earlier. They're only some of the culprits. Others, such as Pfizer Inc., didn't lower the interest rates they use to calculate their pension liabilities, even though the yield on Aa corporate bonds slipped to 7.41% at...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.