Jump to full article: Reuters, 2008-09-18
Author: REUTERS
Intro: A week of pain and ignominy for American International Group Inc. <AIG.N> took another hard turn on Thursday when it got booted from the Dow Jones industrial average, ending the shortest term any company has spent in the blue-chip index since the Great Depression.
Taking its place come Monday's opening bell is Kraft Foods Inc. <KFT.N>, the first pure food company in the index in 23 years. Emblematic of the current market turmoil, the maker of such comfort foods as Oreo cookies and Kraft Cheese was apparently seen as a better fit for the world's most-watched stock index than another risky financial company. . . .
Kraft's spokesman Michael Mitchell said the company was "thrilled that Kraft will be joining the many iconic companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Joining the stocks of the Dow Jones index is a wonderful affirmation of our leadership in the food sector."
The changes won't cause any disruption in the level of the index, Dow Jones Indexes said.
The last component change in the Dow occurred on February 19, 2008, when tobacco company Altria Group <MO.N> and Honeywell <HON.N> were replaced by Chevron <CVX.N> and Bank of America <BAC.N>.
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