RETIREMENT PLANS AND POST RETIREMENT PENSION PLANS (Notes)

9 Months Ended

Jul. 31, 2016

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

RETIREMENT PLANS AND POST RETIREMENT PENSION PLANS

1. RETIREMENT PLANS AND POST RETIREMENT PENSION PLANS

Components of net periodic costs. For the three and nine months ended July 31, 2016 and 2015, our net pension and post retirement benefit costs were comprised of the following:



	Pensions
	U.S. Plans						Non-U.S. Plans						U.S. Post Retirement Benefit Plans
	Three Months Ended July 31,
	2016			2015			2016			2015			2016			2015
	(in millions)
Service cost—benefits earned during the period	$	—		$	6		$	5		$	4		$	—		$	1
Interest cost on benefit obligation	4			3			4			6			1			1
Expected return on plan assets	(6		)	(7		)	(11		)	(10		)	(2		)	(2		)
Amortization:
Actuarial losses	—			2			7			6			3			1
Prior service cost	—			(1		)	—			—			(3		)	(3		)
Total net plan costs	$	(2	)	$	3		$	5		$	6		$	(1	)	$	(2	)
Curtailments and settlements	$	—




	Pensions
	U.S. Plans						Non-U.S. Plans						U.S. Post Retirement Benefit Plans
	Nine Months Ended July 31,
	2016			2015			2016			2015			2016			2015
	(in millions)
Service cost—benefits earned during the period	$	12		$	18		$	14		$	12		$	—		$	3
Interest cost on benefit obligation	11			10			12			18			3			3
Expected return on plan assets	(18		)	(21		)	(33		)	(31		)	(5		)	(6		)
Amortization:
Actuarial losses	2			4			21			19			8			3
Prior service cost	(2		)	(3		)	—			—			(8		)	(9		)
Total net plan costs	$	5		$	8		$	14		$	18		$	(2	)	$	(6	)
Curtailment and settlements	$	(16	)

We made no contribution to our U.S. defined benefit plans during both the three and nine months ended July 31, 2016. We contributed $6 million and $19 million to our non-U.S. defined benefit plans during the three and nine months ended July 31, 2016, respectively.

We made no contribution to our U.S. defined benefit plans during the three months ended July 31, 2015. We contributed $15 million to our U.S. defined benefit plans during the nine months ended July 31, 2015. We contributed $9 million and $20 million to our non-U.S. defined benefit plans during the three and nine months ended July 31, 2015, respectively.

We do not expect to contribute to our U.S. defined benefit plans during the remainder of 2016 and we expect to contribute $6 million to our non-U.S. defined benefit plans during the remainder of 2016.

Plan Amendments. During the three months ended January 31, 2016, we made changes to our U.S. Retirement Plan and Supplemental Benefits Retirement Plan ("U.S. Plans"). Effective April 30, 2016, benefit accruals under the U.S. Plans were frozen. Any pension benefit earned in the U.S. Plans through April 30, 2016 remained fully vested, and there were no additional benefit accruals after April 30, 2016. In addition, active employees who have not met the eligibility requirement for the Retiree Medical Account (RMA) under the U.S. Post Retirement Benefit Plan - 55 years old with at least 15 years of Agilent service - as of April 30, 2016 - will only be eligible for 50 percent of the current RMA reimbursement amount upon retirement.

Due to these plan amendments, we recorded a curtailment gain of $15 million in the U.S. Plans during the nine months ended July 31, 2016. In addition, we recognized a settlement gain of $1 million related to the U.S. Supplemental Benefits Retirement Plan during the nine months ended July 31, 2016.