By Kristin Jones
Standard & Poor's said that pharmaceutical spin-off AbbVie
Inc. will replace computer company Dell Inc. (DELL) in the S&P
100 and take the place of money-manager Federated Investors Inc.
(FII) in the S&P 500 in the new year.
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) is spinning off its pharmaceutical
business AbbVie in an arrangement that is scheduled to take effect
after the close of trading Dec. 31.
Dell's market capitalization has fallen below $18.5 billion,
below what is considered a megacap company, S&P said. Dell
reported last month that its fiscal third-quarter earnings fell 47%
as the company continued to struggle against weaker personal
computer sales. The PC market faces growing pressure from tablet
computers, intense price competition and macroeconomic
uncertainty.
Federated Investors' market capitalization is below $2.2
billion, S&P said, making it more representative of a midcap
company.
Federated Investors was added to the S&P MidCap 400, bumping
ITT Educational Services Inc. (ESI) to the S&P SmallCap
600.
Abbott shares were up fractionally after hours to $65.56, while
Dell shares were down a penny to $10.49.
Federated Investors shares were down 11 cents to $20.55 after
hours, while ITT shares were up six cents to $18.38.
Write to Kristin Jones at kristin.jones@dowjones.com
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