Higher 2017 sales volumes, incremental year-over-year cost savings associated with restructuring and productivity improvement initiatives, costs associated with various growth investments made in 2016 and changes in currency exchange rates, partially offset by incremental year-over-year costs associated with various product development and sales and marketing growth investments: 60 basis points Year-over-year operating profit margin comparisons were unfavorably impacted by: ?
The incremental year-over-year net dilutive effect of acquired businesses: 20 basis points 2016 COMPARED TO 2015 Year-over-year price increases in the segment contributed 0.3% to sales growth during 2016 as compared to 2015 and are reflected as a component of the change in sales from existing businesses.
Sales from existing businesses in the segment’s Transportation Technologies businesses grew at a high-single digit rate during 2016 as compared to 2015, due primarily to strong demand for dispenser, payment and point-of-sale systems, environmental compliance products as well as vehicle and fleet management products, partly offset by weaker year-over-year demand for compressed natural gas products.
As expected, beginning in the second half of 2016, the business began to experience reduced EMV-related demand for indoor point-of-sale solutions, as customers had largely upgraded to products that support indoor EMV requirements in the prior year in response to the indoor liability shift.
However, demand increased on a year-over-year basis for dispensers and payment systems as customers in the United States continued to upgrade equipment driven primarily by the EMV deadlines related to outdoor payment systems.
Geographically, sales from existing businesses continued to increase on a year-over-year basis in the United States and to a lesser extent in Asia and Western Europe.
Sales from existing businesses in the segment’s Automation & Specialty Components business declined at a low-single digit rate during 2016 as compared to 2015.
The businesses experienced sequential year-over-year improvement in demand during the second half of 2016 as compared to the first half of 2016.
During 2016, year-over-year demand declined for engine retarder products due primarily to weakness in the North American heavy-truck market, partly offset by strong growth in China and Europe.
In addition, year-over-year demand declined in certain medical and defense related end markets which were partly offset by increased year-over-year demand for industrial automation products particularly in China.
Geographically, sales from existing businesses in the segment’s Automation & Specialty Components businesses declined in North America, partly offset by growth in Western Europe and China.
Sales from existing businesses in the segment’s Franchise Distribution business grew at a mid-single digit rate during 2016, as compared to 2015, due primarily to continued net increases in franchisees as well as continued growth in demand for professional tool products and tool storage products, primarily in the United States.
This growth was partly offset by yearover-year declines in wheel service equipment sales during 2016.
Operating profit margins increased 70 basis points during 2016 as compared to 2015.
The following factors favorably impacted year-over-year operating profit margin comparisons: ?
Higher 2016 sales volumes, pricing improvements, incremental year-over-year cost savings associated with restructuring and productivity improvement initiatives and the incrementally favorable impact of the impairment of certain tradenames used in the segment in 2015 and 2016, net of costs associated with various growth investments, product development and sales and marketing growth investments, higher year-over-year costs associated with restructuring actions and changes in currency exchange rates: 65 basis points ?
The incremental net accretive effect in 2016 of acquired businesses: 5 basis points COST OF SALES AND GROSS PROFIT
## Table 0 ##
The year-over-year increase in cost of sales during 2017 as compared to 2016 is due primarily to the impact of higher yearover-year sales volumes and changes in currency exchange rates partly offset by incremental year-over-year cost savings
2014 to 2013 Annual Comparison.
Revenues decreased $161 million.
Excluding a favorable impact of $51 million resulting from our annual reviews and updates of assumptions and other refinements, as discussed above, revenues decreased $212 million.
The decrease reflected $239 million lower premiums and policy charges and fee income in both our group life and group disability businesses driven by lapses resulting from continued pricing discipline on contract renewals.
Partially offsetting the decrease was a $28 million increase in net investment income driven by higher income from non-coupon investments.
Benefits and expenses decreased $27 million.
Excluding an unfavorable impact of $203 million resulting from our annual reviews and updates of assumptions and other refinements, as discussed above, benefits and expenses decreased $230 million.
Policyholders’ benefits, including the change in reserves, decreased $287 million, driven by declines in both our group life and group disability businesses, reflecting fewer claims as a result of lapses.
The decline in our group life business also reflected improved claim experience for experiencerated contracts.
The decline in our disability business also reflected higher claim resolutions, partially offset by higher claim severity for long-term contracts.
Partially offsetting these decreases was an increase of $41 million in general and administrative expenses, including higher compensation costs, costs associated with our claims management process, and other costs to support business initiatives.
Sales Results The following table sets forth the Group Insurance segment’s annualized new business premiums, as defined under “—Segment Measures” above, for the periods indicated.
## Table 1 ##
(1) Amounts exclude new premiums resulting from rate changes on existing policies, from additional coverage under our Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance contract and from excess premiums on group universal life insurance that build cash value but do not purchase face amounts.2015 to 2014 Annual Comparison.
Total annualized new business premiums increased $17 million primarily driven by sales to new and existing clients for our group life and group disability businesses, respectively.2014 to 2013 Annual Comparison.
Total annualized new business premiums decreased $57 million reflecting our pricing discipline efforts for both group life and group disability products.
International Insurance Division Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Movements and Related Hedging Strategies As a U. S. -based company with significant business operations outside the U. S. , particularly in Japan, we are subject to foreign currency exchange rate movements that could impact our U. S.  dollar-equivalent shareholder return on equity.
We seek to mitigate this impact through various hedging strategies, including the use of derivative contracts and by holding U. S.  dollar-denominated assets in certain of our foreign subsidiaries.
The operations of our International Insurance division are subject to currency fluctuations that can materially affect our U. S.  dollarequivalent earnings from period to period, even if earnings on a local currency basis are relatively constant.
We enter into forward currency derivative contracts as part of our strategy to effectively fix the currency exchange rates for a portion of our prospective non-U.
S.  dollardenominated earnings streams, thereby reducing earnings volatility from foreign currency exchange rate movements.
The forward currency hedging program is primarily associated with our insurance operations in Japan and Korea.
Separately, our Japanese insurance operations offer a variety of non-yen denominated products, primarily comprised of U. S.  and Australian dollar-denominated products that are supported by investments in corresponding currencies.
While these non-yen denominated assets and liabilities are economically matched, prior to 2015, differences in the accounting for changes in the value of these assets and liabilities due to changes in foreign currency exchange rate movements resulted in volatility in reported U. S.  GAAP earnings.
As a result of continued growth in these portfolios, effective in the first quarter of 2015, we implemented a new structure in Gibraltar Life that disaggregated the U. S.  and Australian dollar-denominated businesses into separate divisions, each with its own functional currency that aligns with the underlying products and investments.
For further information on the hedging strategies used to mitigate the risks of foreign currency exchange rate movements on earnings as well as the U. S.  GAAP earnings impact from products denominated in non-local currencies, see “—Impact of foreign currency exchange rate movements on earnings.
” We utilize a yen hedging strategy that calibrates the hedge level to preserve the relative contribution of our yen-based business to the Company’s overall return on equity on a leverage neutral basis.
We implement this hedging strategy utilizing a variety of instruments, including foreign currency derivative contracts, as discussed above, as well as U. S.  dollar-denominated assets and, to a lesser extent, “dual currency” and “synthetic dual currency” assets held locally in our Japanese insurance subsidiaries.
We may also hedge using instruments held in our U. S.  domiciled entities, such as U. S.  dollar-denominated debt that has been swapped to yen.
The total hedge level may vary based on our periodic assessment of the relative contribution of our yen-based business to the Company’s overall return on equity
The following table sets forth the composition related to the investments of our Japanese insurance operations’ general account as of the dates indicated.
## Table 2 ##
(1) Other long-term investments consist of real estate and non-real estate-related investments in joint ventures and partnerships, investment real estate held through direct ownership, derivatives, and other miscellaneous investments.
The decrease in general account investments related to our Japanese insurance operations in 2015 was primarily attributable to the translation impact of the Australian dollar and the yen weakening against the U. S.  dollar, a net decrease in fair value driven by credit spread widening and an increase in U. S.  interest rates.
As of December 31, 2015, our Japanese insurance operations had $50.2 billion, at fair value, of investments denominated in U. S.  dollars, including $4.0 billion that were hedged to yen through third-party derivative contracts and $32.3 billion that support liabilities denominated in U. S.  dollars, with the remainder hedging our foreign currency exchange rate exposure on U. S.  dollar-equivalent equity.
As of December 31, 2014, our Japanese insurance operations had $48.9 billion, at fair value, of investments denominated in U. S.  dollars, including $3.6 billion that were hedged to yen through third-party derivative contracts and $31.9 billion that support liabilities denominated in U. S.  dollars, with the remainder hedging our foreign currency exchange rate exposure on U. S.  dollar-equivalent equity.
The $1.3 billion increase in the fair value of U. S.  dollar-denominated investments from December 31, 2014, is primarily attributable to portfolio growth as a result of business inflows and the reinvestment of net investment income, partially offset by a net decrease in fair value driven by credit spread widening and an increase in U. S.  interest rates.
Our Japanese insurance operations had $10.0 billion and $10.4 billion, at fair value, of investments denominated in Australian dollars that support liabilities denominated in Australian dollars as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.
The $0.4 billion decrease in the fair value of Australian dollar-denominated investments from December 31, 2014, is primarily attributable to the translation impact of the Australian dollar weakening against the U. S.  dollar, partially offset by portfolio growth as a result of business inflows and the reinvestment of net investment income.
For additional information regarding U. S.  and Australian dollar investments held in our Japanese insurance operations and a discussion of our yen hedging strategy, see “—Results of Operations by Segment—International Insurance Division,” above.
Investment Results The following tables set forth the income yield and investment income for each major investment category of our general account for the periods indicated.
The yields are based on net investment income as reported under U. S.  GAAP and as such do not include certain interest related items, such as settlements of duration management swaps which are included in realized gains (losses).
## Table 3 ##

<table><tr><td></td><td>For the Year Ended December 31</td></tr><tr><td>($ in millions)</td><td>2017</td><td>2016</td><td>2015</td></tr><tr><td>Sales</td><td>$6,656.0</td><td>$6,224.3</td><td>$6,178.8</td></tr><tr><td>Cost of sales</td><td>-3,357.5</td><td>-3,191.5</td><td>-3,178.8</td></tr><tr><td>Gross profit</td><td>3,298.5</td><td>3,032.8</td><td>3,000.0</td></tr><tr><td>Gross profit margin</td><td>49.6%</td><td>48.7%</td><td>48.6%</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="3">Year ended December 31,</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>2015</td><td>2014</td><td>2013</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="3">(in millions)</td></tr><tr><td>Annualized new business premiums-1:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Group life</td><td>$204</td><td>$189</td><td>$240</td></tr><tr><td>Group disability</td><td>69</td><td>67</td><td>73</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>$273</td><td>$256</td><td>$313</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td>December 31, 2015</td><td>December 31, 2014</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">(in millions)</td></tr><tr><td>Fixed maturities:</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Public, available-for-sale, at fair value</td><td>$109,257</td><td>$111,991</td></tr><tr><td>Public, held-to-maturity, at amortized cost</td><td>1,834</td><td>2,000</td></tr><tr><td>Private, available-for-sale, at fair value</td><td>9,747</td><td>8,835</td></tr><tr><td>Private, held-to-maturity, at amortized cost</td><td>474</td><td>575</td></tr><tr><td>Trading account assets supporting insurance liabilities, at fair value</td><td>2,020</td><td>1,910</td></tr><tr><td>Other trading account assets, at fair value</td><td>647</td><td>672</td></tr><tr><td>Equity securities, available-for-sale, at fair value</td><td>2,660</td><td>2,504</td></tr><tr><td>Commercial mortgage and other loans, at book value</td><td>9,756</td><td>8,215</td></tr><tr><td>Policy loans, at outstanding balance</td><td>2,208</td><td>2,146</td></tr><tr><td>Other long-term investments-1</td><td>1,742</td><td>1,606</td></tr><tr><td>Short-term investments</td><td>417</td><td>406</td></tr><tr><td>Total Japanese general account investments</td><td>$140,762</td><td>$140,860</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="6">Year Ended December 31, 2015</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">PFI excludingClosed Block Division</td><td colspan="2">Closed BlockDivision</td><td colspan="2">Combined</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Yield-1</td><td>Amount</td><td>Yield-1</td><td>Amount</td><td>Yield-1</td><td>Amount</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="6">($ in millions)</td></tr><tr><td>Fixed maturities</td><td>4.03%</td><td>$8,876</td><td>4.94%</td><td>$1,692</td><td>4.15%</td><td>$10,568</td></tr><tr><td>Trading account assets supporting insurance liabilities</td><td>3.59</td><td>720</td><td>0.00</td><td>0</td><td>3.59</td><td>720</td></tr><tr><td>Equity securities</td><td>5.67</td><td>266</td><td>3.49</td><td>70</td><td>5.01</td><td>336</td></tr><tr><td>Commercial mortgage and other loans</td><td>4.58</td><td>1,728</td><td>5.42</td><td>512</td><td>4.75</td><td>2,240</td></tr><tr><td>Policy loans</td><td>5.01</td><td>334</td><td>6.06</td><td>285</td><td>5.45</td><td>619</td></tr><tr><td>Short-term investments and cash equivalents</td><td>0.25</td><td>43</td><td>1.14</td><td>12</td><td>0.28</td><td>55</td></tr><tr><td>Other investments</td><td>5.91</td><td>489</td><td>7.24</td><td>222</td><td>6.27</td><td>711</td></tr><tr><td>Gross investment income before investment expenses</td><td>3.97</td><td>12,456</td><td>5.14</td><td>2,793</td><td>4.14</td><td>15,249</td></tr><tr><td>Investment expenses</td><td>-0.14</td><td>-394</td><td>-0.25</td><td>-140</td><td>-0.16</td><td>-534</td></tr><tr><td>Investment income after investment expenses</td><td>3.83%</td><td>12,062</td><td>4.89%</td><td>2,653</td><td>3.98%</td><td>14,715</td></tr><tr><td>Investment results of other entities and operations-2</td><td></td><td>114</td><td></td><td>0</td><td></td><td>114</td></tr><tr><td>Total investment income</td><td></td><td>$12,176</td><td></td><td>$2,653</td><td></td><td>$14,829</td></tr></table>

Question: Does the value of Other trading account assets, at fair value in 2015 greater than that in 2014?