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Friday, November 21, 2008

If 401(k)s are now 201(k)s, should the S&P 500 become the S&P 256?

Remember 11 days ago Unisys Corp. got bounced from the S&P 500 Index because its low market capitalization no longer made it one of the nation's biggest companies?

Well, the Financial Times says that Standard & Poor's Corp. might as well as chuck 244 other companies too.

One requirement for being included in the widely watched measure of the U.S. stock market is a market cap of more than $4 billion. But as of the opening of the market on Friday, only 256 companies had a value greater than that.

Still, don't look for wholesale index cleaning. The FT points out that the S&P 500 is run by committee, which often strives to minimize churn in the index. Turnover in 2007 was just 5 percent.

Besides at the rate the market value is being destroyed, there soon may little difference between small cap and large cap stocks.
Posted by Mike Armstrong @ 3:58 PM  Permalink | File Under: Investing, Markets | Post a comment
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About Mike Armstrong
Mike Armstrong, a business editor and writer for nearly two decades, is the Inquirer's business columnist and PhillyInc blog editor. Contact Mike via e-mail or at 215-854-2980
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