The following are Nucors partial Balance Sheet and partial inventory footnote for the year ending 12/31/2019.

6. INVENTORIES: Nucor uses the LIFO method for inventory cost flow assumptions. If the FIFO method of accounting had been used, inventories would have been $923.4 million higher at December 31, 2019 ($581.5 million higher at December 31, 2018).

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (in thousands):

December 31	2019	2018
Cash and cash equivalents (Note 15)	$ 2,355,130	$1,393,943
Short-term investments (Notes 4 and 15)	-	182,450
Accounts receivable, net (Note 5)	1,228,807	1,611,844
Inventory, net (Note 6)	2,408,157	1,601,600
Other current assets (Notes 14, 15, and 20)	405,392	283,412
Total current assets:	6,397,486	5,073,249

REQUIRED: use the above information to answer the following questions by filling in the blanks. Be careful with the unit of measurements, i.e., make sure you are making calculations based on the same unit of measurements in thousands of dollars where needed.

LIFO reserves for 2019 is $ _______ million and for 2018 is $______ million.

1. FIFO ending inventory for 2019 is $ ______ and for 2018 is $ ______.
2. Ignoring taxes, 2019 Net Income would be Higher or Lower____________ ? if FIFO cost flow assumption has been used.
3. Input prices for inventory are going Up or Down?__________ .

? .