We expended $51 million during thefirst quarter of 2009 to repurchase 1.9 million of our common shares. Based oncurrent strategic projects and plans, the company's capital expenditures forall of 2009 are estimated to be $176 million, including $31 million investedin facilities and technology equipment in the first quarter of the year. Thesecash expenditures are funded from our available liquid resources."Market Commentary"Although the financial markets have shown signs of stabilizing in theshort-term, and the worst may be behind us, we are not out of the woods," Mr.Kennedy cautioned. "Global markets remain volatile and fragile and it willlikely be a good deal of time before they return to a real sense of normalcy.The U.S. economic recession is poised to become the longest and perhapsdeepest in the post-World War II era, and the outlook for the global economycontinues to be uncertain."Through their massive monetary and fiscal stimulus programs, however,governments and central banks around the world have taken significant steps toincrease liquidity, restore investor confidence, and get their economiesmoving again. The private sector is also taking steps to streamline operationsand improve competitive positions.

Although progress will likely be slow anduneven, these steps should gain traction as we move through the year and weshould see gradual improvement in the markets and the economic landscape.While our outlook is cautious, we are mindful that stock prices typicallyrecover in advance of economic conditions. There are never any guarantees, butwe believe that many of the conditions are in place for a more rewardinginvestment environment ahead."Closing CommentIn closing, Mr. Kennedy said: "In the current environment, as always, we arefocused on maintaining the disciplined investment philosophy and long-termperspective that have helped us weather volatile market conditions in thepast, on providing our clients with the excellent level of service they havecome to expect, and on pursuing business strategies that will deliverlong-term value for our clients and stockholders. While the markets are hardto forecast, we remain confident that the combination of our strong financialfoundation and our team of dedicated, client-focused associates will enable usto weather the remainder of this downturn. As conditions improve, andconfidence in the markets is gradually restored, we are poised to emerge in aneven stronger competitive position to serve our clients and stockholders."Other MattersThe financial results presented in this release are unaudited.

The companyexpects that it will file its Form 10-Q Quarterly Report for the first quarterof 2009 with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission later today. The Form10-Q will include more information on the company's unaudited financialresults and sponsored fund investments.Certain statements in this press release may represent "forward-lookinginformation," including information relating to anticipated changes inrevenues, net income and earnings per share, anticipated changes in the amountand composition of assets under management, anticipated expense levels andexpense savings, estimated tax rates, and expectations regarding financial andother market conditions. For a discussion concerning risks and other factorsthat could affect future results, see the company's 2008 Form 10-K and 2009Form 10-Q reports.Founded in 1937, Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price is a global investmentmanagement organization that provides a broad array of mutual funds,subadvisory services, and separate account management for individual andinstitutional investors, retirement plans, and financial intermediaries. Theorganization also offers a variety of sophisticated investment planning andguidance tools T. Rowe Price's disciplined, risk-aware investment approachfocuses on diversification, style consistency, and fundamental research. Rowe Price AssociatesBrian Lewbart, +1-410-345-2242, Ed Giltenan, +1-410-345-3437 or HeatherMcDonold, +1-410-345-6617, all of T Rowe Price Group.

I miss the Champ Car World Series.I love the Indy Racing League I've always enjoyed the oval-track series. Ever since Buddy Lazier won the first Indianapolis 500 under the new sanctioning body, coming back from a devastating back injury from only a couple months before, I was hooked.Likewise, I believe the merger between the IRL and the CCWS was necessary for the sport to continue to grow. I expect larger crowds, more competition, a more entertaining Bump Day, and as I controversially wrote a while back the combined series to one day overtake Formula One in terms of racing quality and participation.But I still miss Champ Car.What isn't there to miss? Champ Car was our link to Formula One in the United States. They even tried to bring the series to China for one round, although the FIA ultimately wouldn't let the race go off.It was auto racing at its finest.Now it's gone.The remnants include ten former Champ Car teams (mostly underperforming) and three former Champ Car races now part of the IRL, with more races likely to be added next season The safety team remains intact and is now a part of the IRL.

Likewise, the rights to the history of the sport Champ Car's history belong to the IRL as well.Everything else was auctioned off a few weeks ago.Cars of all sorts, hats, banners, Midway's old CART FURY videogame, anything that had any value was auctioned away to the highest bidder.It's sad that a fabled series that was supposed to be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year had to go away like this. Obviously it was never the same after Penske Racing and Ganassi Racing joined the IRL, but the battles between Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, Forsythe Racing, RuSport, and Derrick Walker's Team Australia were some of the most exciting and entertaining in all of motorsports these past few years.They were at least as good as the battles between Andretti Green Racing, Penske, and Ganassi in the IRL, if not better.Only Newman/Haas/Lanigan continues to exist in any meaningful way Graham Rahal won his IRL debut at St. Petersburg after missing the Homestead race due to lack of car Forsythe and Walker field Atlantic Series cars now. RuSport folded last year after Wilson signed with N/H/L to replace Bourdais, who departed for F1.Tracy, despite his 2003 championship, and Doornbos, despite his 2007 Rookie of the Year award, do not have new rides in the IRL. Neither do drivers like Nelson Philippe, Simon Pagenaud, and Alex Tagliani, all of whom consistently performed well in Champ Car and certainly deserved chances in the IRL as well.Bluntly stated, the Champ Car guys got screwed.Do I harbor any ill will towards the IRL or Tony George for that, though? Not really.