13 Table of Contents guarantees or other financial arrangements, following the transaction. Lower performance by those divested businesses could affect our future financial results. Union disputes or other labor matters could adversely affect our operations and financial results. Unexpected events, including natural disasters, may increase our cost of doing business or disrupt our operations. FINANCIAL RISKS Disruptions or volatility in global financial markets could limit our sources of liquidity, or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers. Failure to maintain our credit ratings would increase our cost of borrowing and could adversely affect our cost of funds, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital markets. Some of our employees are represented by labor unions in a number of countries under various collective bargaining agreements with varying durations and expiration dates. There can be no assurance that any current or future issues with our employees will be resolved or that we will not encounter future strikes, work stoppages or other types of conflicts with labor unions or our employees. We may not be able to satisfactorily renegotiate collective bargaining agreements in the United States and other countries when they expire. If we fail to renegotiate our existing collective bargaining agreements, we could encounter strikes or work stoppages or other types of conflicts with labor unions. In addition, existing collective bargaining agreements may not prevent a strike or work stoppage at our facilities in the future. We may also be subject to general country strikes or work stoppages unrelated to our business or collective bargaining agreements. A work stoppage or other limitations on production at our facilities for any reason could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, many of our customers and suppliers have unionized work forces. Strikes or work stoppages experienced by our customers or suppliers could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. The occurrence of one or more unexpected events, including war, terrorist acts or violence, civil unrest, fires, tornadoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and other forms of severe weather in the United States or in other countries in which we operate or in which our suppliers are located could adversely affect our operations and financial performance. Natural disasters, pandemic illness, equipment failures, power outages or other unexpected events could result in physical damage to and complete or partial closure of one or more of our manufacturing facilities or distribution centers, temporary or long-term disruption in the supply of component products from some local and international suppliers, disruption in the transport of our products to dealers and end-users and delay in the delivery of our products to our distribution centers. Existing insurance coverage may not provide protection for all of the costs that may arise from such events. Continuing to meet our cash requirements over the long-term requires substantial liquidity and access to varied sources of funds, including capital and credit markets. Global economic conditions may cause volatility and disruptions in the capital and credit markets. Market volatility, changes in counterparty credit risk, the impact of government intervention in financial markets and general economic conditions may also adversely impact our ability to access capital and credit markets to fund operating needs. Global or regional economic downturns could cause financial markets to decrease the availability of liquidity, credit and credit capacity for certain issuers, including certain customers, dealers and suppliers. An inability to access capital and credit markets may have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and competitive position. Furthermore, changes in global economic conditions, including material cost increases and decreases in economic activity in key markets we serve, and the success of plans to manage cost increases, inventory and other important elements of our business may significantly impact our ability to generate funds from operations.  In addition, demand for our products generally depends on customers’ ability to pay for our products, which, in turn, depends on their access to funds. Changes in global economic conditions may result in customers experiencing increased difficulty in generating funds from operations. Capital and credit market volatility and uncertainty may cause financial institutions to revise their lending standards, resulting in customers’ decreased access to capital. If capital and credit market volatility occurs, customers’ liquidity may decline which, in turn, would reduce their ability to purchase our products. Each of Caterpillar’s and Cat Financial’s costs of borrowing and their respective ability to access the capital markets are affected not only by market conditions but also by the short- and long-term credit ratings assigned to their respective debt by the major credit rating agencies. These ratings are based, in significant part, on each of Caterpillar’s and Cat Financial’s performance as measured by financial metrics such as net worth, interest coverage and leverage ratios, as well as transparency with rating agencies and timeliness of financial reporting. There can be no assurance that Caterpillar or Cat Financial will be able to maintain their credit ratings. We receive debt ratings from the major credit rating agencies. Moody’s