Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from the side of Robert Napoli. Your line is now open.
Robert Napoli
Thank you. Good morning. And you know nice job and guys I’ve been waiting for this time for years unfortunately that means that the economies isn’t doing so well, but few questions on first of all on pricing I know that pricing came in for the quarter better than we expected you are up 3.5% and I just wondered what because we think prices have declined in the market pretty significantly and what are you expecting in throughout 2009. Why do why was you pricing as positive as it was in the quarter?
Bob Lyons
Good morning. This is Bob Lyons.
Robert Napoli
Good morning.
Bob Lyons
Thanks for your question. The fourth quarter was stronger than we had anticipated if you recall the third quarter with the LPI was in negative 0.3% we assume going in the fourth quarter the number would be negative. Tank car pricing in particular held up stronger than we had anticipated. But as you would expect from everything going on in the marketplace, the freight car side of the equation was quite pressured. So, as we look into 2009 what occurred in the fourth quarter really doesn’t change our view on what will happen in 2009, which is rates will come under pressure as the LPI across the board in 2009, on average would be a negative performance. So, we're going to have some difficult times going into 2009.
Robert Napoli
Okay. And then the utilization side, you said you scrapped lot of cars in the fourth quarter and the acquisition that you made essentially that was 100% utilized.
Brian Kenney
Yes.
Bob Lyons
Yes
Robert Napoli
Behind your outlook for next year, how low do you expect that, are you anticipating what kind of a range would you expect for utilization to decline to?
Bob Lyons
Well, as we came in to 2008, we had expected that we would probably see a couple of hundred basis point drop in utilization, take out that stronger and all for commercial reasons but largely due to scrap. So, as we go into 2009 I think at least a couple of hundred basis points drop is not out of the question in terms of utilization for '09.
Robert Napoli
Okay. And you took a $7 million loss provision in the quarter. Is that in the affiliate earnings? Is that why the affiliate earnings went down so much?
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