Performance reflects success of growth and quality initiatives.
Aggressive, timely action in prior year keeps Deere on track for improved 2000. Depressed agricultural commodity prices continued to severely affect demand for agricultural equipment during the period. This is evidence of our progress in growth and quality initiatives, shows our success in achieving increased diversification of our business lines, and leaves our business plans for the year on track. Excluding the impact of the stronger U.S. dollar, overseas sales for the quarter would have shown a 4 percent increase over last year. Overall, the company's physical volume of sales decreased 3 percent for the period.