Kraft Foods Group To Replace Alpha Natural Resources In The S&P 500

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On Wednesday, S&P Dow Jones Indices, a unit of McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MHP), announced upcoming changes to the S&P 500 and the S&P MidCap 400.

Kraft Foods Group To Replace Alpha Natural Resources In The S&P 500

Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:KRFTV) will replace Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE:ANR) in the S&P 500. Alpha Natural Resources will then move to the S&P MidCap 400, replacing Korn/Ferry International (NYSE:KFY) in the S&P MidCap 400. Korn/Ferry will then move to the S&P SmallCap 600, replacing Pulse Electronics Corp. (NYSE:PULS).

These changes will come effective on October 1, after the market’s close.

In addition, S&P 100 & 500 member Kraft Foods Inc (NASDAQ:KFT) will spin off from Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:KRFTV) to shareholders, in a transaction likely to become effective at the end of the trading day on October 1.

It will change its name to Mondelez International Inc. Under its new ticker symbol, MDLZ, it will remain in the S&P 100 & 500.

For Kraft, the news follows the September 14 announcement that the world’s second largest food company would no longer be in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow Jones Indices:DJI) benchmark. Replacing the company, was America’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH); it was added into the No. 15 spot in the 30-stock list.

The change became effective on Monday.

Kraft Foods Inc (NASDAQ:KFT) had been added to the index back in September, 2008, replacing American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG).

Its four-year tenure represents one of the shortest at Dow Jones. For the list, it’s been some time since a change had been made, as the last one came in June, 2009. This came when The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV) and Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) replaced Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) and General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) respectively.

Why remove Kraft Foods now? It comes after Kraft announced its plans to spin off the North American grocery unit on October 1.

In other news from S&P, InterDigital Inc. (NASDAQ:IDCC) will replace Quest Software Inc. (NASDAQ:QSFT) in the S&P MidCap 400, after the market’s close on September 28. S&P 100 & 500 member Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) is acquiring Quest Software; it is likely to be completed soon, but is awaiting final approvals.

Also, on October 1, after the close, Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (NYSE:GWR) will replace Collective Brands Inc. (NYSE:PSS) in the S&P MidCap 400. A group that includes S&P SmallCap 600 member Wolverine World Wide Inc. (WWW) is purchasing Collective Brands, in a deal expected to be completed soon, pending final approvals.

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