Item 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

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Financial Risk Management

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We are exposed to market risk primarily from adverse changes in interest rates, and to a lesser degree commodity prices. To minimize this risk, we may periodically use financial instruments, including derivatives. All derivative financial instrument transactions must be authorized and executed pursuant to approval by the Board of Directors. As a matter of policy, we do not buy or sell financial instruments for speculative or trading purposes, and any such derivative financial instruments are intended to be used to reduce risk by hedging an underlying economic exposure. Our objective is to correlate derivative financial instruments and the underlying exposure being hedged, so that fluctuations in the value of the financial instruments are generally offset by reciprocal changes in the value of the underlying economic exposure.

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Interest Rate Risk

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We manage our interest rate risk through the strategic use of fixed and variable interest rate debt and, from time to time, derivative financial instruments. In recent years, our principal interest rate exposure has been from outstanding borrowings under our Revolving Facility as well as our commercial paper program. As of January 29, 2021, we had no consolidated borrowings under our commercial paper program and no borrowings outstanding under our Revolving Facility. In order to mitigate a portion of the variable rate interest exposure under the credit facilities, in prior years we have entered into various interest rate swaps. As of January 29, 2021, no such interest rate swaps were outstanding and, as a result, we will have exposure to fluctuations in variable interest rates for any future amounts borrowed under the Revolving Facility and our commercial paper program. For a detailed discussion of our Revolving Facility and our commercial paper program, see Note 5 to the consolidated financial statements.

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At January 29, 2021, our primary interest rate exposure was from changes in interest rates on our variable rate investment holdings, which were classified as cash and cash equivalents in our consolidated financial statements. The increase in cash and cash equivalents was driven primarily by our issuance of $1.5 billion of senior unsecured notes during the first quarter of 2020 as we sought to strengthen liquidity as a result of the continued uncertainty generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on our variable rate cash investment balance of $1.1 billion at January 29, 2021, the annualized effect of a 0.1 percentage point decrease in interest rates would have resulted in a pre-tax reduction of our earnings and cash flows of approximately $1.1 million in 2020.

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At January 31, 2020, our primary interest rate exposure was from changes in interest rates on our variable interest rate debt. A change in interest rates on variable rate debt impacts our pre-tax earnings and cash flows; whereas a change in interest rates on fixed rate debt impacts the economic fair value of debt but not our pre-tax earnings and cash flows. Based on our variable rate borrowing levels as of January 31, 2020, the annualized effect of a one percentage point increase in variable interest rates would have resulted in a pretax reduction of our earnings and cash flows of approximately $4.3 million in 2019.

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