MetLife, Inc.  Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements — (Continued) Issuance Costs In connection with the offering of common equity units, the Holding Company incurred $55.3 million of issuance costs of which $5.8 million related to the issuance of the junior subordinated debentures underlying common equity units which funded the Series A and Series B trust preferred securities and $49.5 million related to the expected issuance of the common stock under the stock purchase contracts.
The $5.8 million in debt issuance costs were capitalized, included in other assets, and amortized using the effective interest method over the period from issuance date of the common equity units to the initial and subsequent stock purchase date.
The remaining $49.5 million of costs related to the common stock issuance under the stock purchase contracts and were recorded as a reduction of additional paid-in capital.
Earnings Per Common Share The stock purchase contracts are reflected in diluted earnings per common share using the treasury stock method.
The stock purchase contracts were included in diluted earnings per common share for the years ended December 31, 2008, 2007 and 2006 as shown in Note 20.
Remarketing of Junior Subordinated Debentures and Settlement of Stock Purchase Contracts On August 15, 2008, the Holding Company closed the successful remarketing of the Series A portion of the junior subordinated debentures underlying the common equity units.
The Series A junior subordinated debentures were modified as permitted by their terms to be 6.817% senior debt securities Series A, due August 15, 2018.
The Holding Company did not receive any proceeds from the remarketing.
Most common equity unit holders chose to have their junior subordinated debentures remarketed and used the remarketing proceeds to settle their payment obligations under the applicable stock purchase contract.
For those common equity unit holders that elected not to participate in the remarketing and elected to use their own cash to satisfy the payment obligations under the stock purchase contract, the terms of the debt are the same as the remarketed debt.
The initial settlement of the stock purchase contracts occurred on August 15, 2008, providing proceeds to the Holding Company of $1,035 million in exchange for shares of the Holding Company’s common stock.
The Holding Company delivered 20,244,549 shares of its common stock held in treasury at a value of $1,064 million to settle the stock purchase contracts.
On February 17, 2009, the Holding Company closed the successful remarketing of the Series B portion of the junior subordinated debentures underlying the common equity units.
The Series B junior subordinated debentures were modified as permitted by their terms to be 7.717% senior debt securities Series B, due February 15, 2019.
The Holding Company did not receive any proceeds from the remarketing.
Most common equity unit holders chose to have their junior subordinated debentures remarketed and used the remarketing proceeds to settle their payment obligations under the applicable stock purchase contract.
For those common equity unit holders that elected not to participate in the remarketing and elected to use their own cash to satisfy the payment obligations under the stock purchase contract, the terms of the debt are the same as the remarketed debt.
The subsequent settlement of the stock purchase contracts occurred on February 17, 2009, providing proceeds to the Holding Company of $1,035 million in exchange for shares of the Holding Company’s common stock.
The Holding Company delivered 24,343,154 shares of its newly issued common stock at a value of $1,035 million to settle the stock purchase contracts.
See also Notes 10, 12, 18 and 25.14.
Shares Subject to Mandatory Redemption and Company-Obligated Mandatorily Redeemable Securities of Subsidiary Trusts GenAmerica Capital I.
In June 1997, GenAmerica Corporation (“GenAmerica”) issued $125 million of 8.525% capital securities through a wholly-owned subsidiary trust, GenAmerica Capital I.
In October 2007, GenAmerica redeemed these securities which were due to mature on June 30, 2027.
As a result of this redemption, the Company recognized additional interest expense of $10 million.
Interest expense on these instruments is included in other expenses and was $20 million and $11 million for the years ended December 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively.15.
Income Tax The provision for income tax from continuing operations is as follows:
## Table 0 ##
the same default methodology to all Alt-A bonds, regardless of the underlying collateral.
The Company’s Alt-A portfolio has superior structure to the overall Alt-A market.
The Company’s Alt-A portfolio is 88% fixed rate collateral, has zero exposure to option ARM mortgages and has only 12% hybrid ARMs.
Fixed rate mortgages have performed better than both option ARMs and hybrid ARMs.
Additionally, 83% of the Company’s Alt-A portfolio has super senior credit enhancement, which typically provides double the credit enhancement of a standard AAA rated bond.
Based upon the analysis of the Company’s exposure to Alt-A mortgage loans through its investment in asset-backed securities, the Company continues to expect to receive payments in accordance with the contractual terms of the securities.
Asset-Backed Securities.
The Company’s asset-backed securities are diversified both by sector and by issuer.
At December 31, 2008, the largest exposures in the Company’s asset-backed securities portfolio were credit card receivables, automobile receivables, student loan receivables and residential mortgage-backed securities backed by sub-prime mortgage loans of 49%, 10%, 10% and 10% of the total holdings, respectively.
At December 31, 2008 and 2007, the Company’s holdings in asset-backed securities was $10.5 billion and $10.6 billion at estimated fair value.
At December 31, 2008 and 2007, $7.9 billion and $5.7 billion, respectively, or 75% and 54%, respectively, of total asset-backed securities were rated Aaa/AAA by Moody’s, S&P or Fitch.
The Company’s asset-backed securities included in the structured securities table above include exposure to residential mortgagebacked securities backed by sub-prime mortgage loans.
Sub-prime mortgage lending is the origination of residential mortgage loans to customers with weak credit profiles.
The Company’s exposure exists through investment in asset-backed securities which are supported by sub-prime mortgage loans.
The slowing U. S.  housing market, greater use of affordable mortgage products, and relaxed underwriting standards for some originators of below-prime loans have recently led to higher delinquency and loss rates, especially within the 2006 and 2007 vintage year.
Vintage year refers to the year of origination and not to the year of purchase.
These factors have caused a pull-back in market liquidity and repricing of risk, which has led to an increase in unrealized losses from December 31, 2007 to December 31, 2008.
Based upon the analysis of the Company’s exposure to sub-prime mortgage loans through its investment in asset-backed securities, the Company expects to receive payments in accordance with the contractual terms of the securities.
The following table shows the Company’s exposure to asset-backed securities supported by sub-prime mortgage loans by credit quality and by vintage year:
## Table 1 ##
December 31, 2007
## Table 2 ##
At December 31, 2008 and 2007, the Company had asset-backed securities supported by sub-prime mortgage loans with estimated fair values of $1.1 billion and $2.0 billion, respectively, and unrealized losses of $730 million and $198 million, respectively, as outlined in the tables above.
At December 31, 2008, approximately 82% of the portfolio is rated Aa or better of which 82% was in vintage year 2005 and prior.
At December 31, 2007, approximately 98% of the portfolio was rated Aa or better of which 79% was in vintage year 2005 and prior.
These older vintages benefit from better underwriting, improved enhancement levels and higher residential property price appreciation.
At December 31, 2008, 37% of the asset-backed securities backed by sub-prime mortgage loans have been guaranteed by financial guarantee insurers, of which 19% and 37% were guaranteed by financial guarantee insurers who were Aa and Baa rated, respectively.
At December 31, 2008, all of the $1.1 billion of asset-backed securities supported by sub-prime mortgage loans were classified as Level 3 securities.
have access to liquidity by issuing bonds to public or private investors based on our assessment of the current condition of the credit markets.
At December 31, 2009, we had a working capital surplus of approximately $1.0 billion, which reflects our decision to maintain additional cash reserves to enhance liquidity in response to difficult economic conditions.
At December 31, 2008, we had a working capital deficit of approximately $100 million.
Historically, we have had a working capital deficit, which is common in our industry and does not indicate a lack of liquidity.
We maintain adequate resources and, when necessary, have access to capital to meet any daily and short-term cash requirements, and we have sufficient financial capacity to satisfy our current liabilities.
## Table 3 ##
Operating Activities Lower net income in 2009, a reduction of $184 million in the outstanding balance of our accounts receivable securitization program, higher pension contributions of $72 million, and changes to working capital combined to decrease cash provided by operating activities compared to 2008.
Higher net income and changes in working capital combined to increase cash provided by operating activities in 2008 compared to 2007.
In addition, accelerated tax deductions enacted in 2008 on certain new operating assets resulted in lower income tax payments in 2008 versus 2007.
Voluntary pension contributions in 2008 totaling $200 million and other pension contributions of $8 million partially offset the year-over-year increase versus 2007.
Investing Activities Lower capital investments and higher proceeds from asset sales drove the decrease in cash used in investing activities in 2009 versus 2008.
Increased capital investments and lower proceeds from asset sales drove the increase in cash used in investing activities in 2008 compared to 2007.

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Years Ended December 31,
2008	2007	2006
(In millions)
Current:
Federal	$216	$424	$615
State and local	10	15	39
Foreign	372	200	144
Subtotal	598	639	798
Deferred:
Federal	1,078	1,015	164
State and local	-6	31	2
Foreign	-90	-25	52
Subtotal	982	1,021	218
Provision for income tax	$1,580	$1,660	$1,016

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December 31, 2008
Aaa	Aa	A	Baa	Below Investment Grade	Total
Cost or	Cost or	Cost or	Cost or	Cost or	Cost or
Amortized	Fair	Amortized	Fair	Amortized	Fair	Amortized	Fair	Amortized	Fair	Amortized	Fair
Cost	Value	Cost	Value	Cost	Value	Cost	Value	Cost	Value	Cost	Value
(In millions)
2003 & Prior	$96	$77	$92	$72	$26	$16	$83	$53	$8	$4	$305	$222
2004	129	70	372	204	5	3	37	28	2	1	545	306
2005	357	227	186	114	20	11	79	46	4	4	646	402
2006	146	106	69	30	15	10	26	7	2	2	258	155
2007	—	—	78	33	35	21	2	2	3	1	118	57
2008	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total	$728	$480	$797	$453	$101	$61	$227	$136	$19	$12	$1,872	$1,142

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December 31, 2007
Aaa	Aa	A	Baa	Below Investment Grade	Total
Cost or	Cost or	Cost or	Cost or	Cost or	Cost or
Amortized	Fair	Amortized	Fair	Amortized	Fair	Amortized	Fair	Amortized	Fair	Amortized	Fair
Cost	Value	Cost	Value	Cost	Value	Cost	Value	Cost	Value	Cost	Value
(In millions)
2003 & Prior	$217	$206	$130	$123	$15	$14	$13	$12	$4	$2	$379	$357
2004	186	169	412	383	11	9	—	—	1	—	610	561
2005	509	462	218	197	—	—	—	—	—	—	727	659
2006	244	223	64	43	—	—	—	—	—	—	308	266
2007	132	123	17	9	—	—	—	—	—	—	149	132
Total	$1,288	$1,183	$841	$755	$26	$23	$13	$12	$5	$2	$2,173	$1,975

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Millions of Dollars	2009	2008	2007
Cash provided by operating activities	$3,234	$4,070	$3,277
Cash used in investing activities	-2,175	-2,764	-2,426
Cash used in financing activities	-458	-935	-800
Net change in cash and cash equivalents	$601	$371	$51

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Question: what was the percentage change in cash provided by operating activities from 2008 to 2009?
Answer: -0.20541