Some of these changes will only have minor buy and sell effects from S&P index mutual funds and ETFs, but some will see significant changes.

Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (NYSE: MJN) will replace MBIA Corp. (NYSE: MBI) in the S&P 500, after Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) is splitting off its approximately 83% holdings in Mead Johnson Nutrition. MBIA currently ranks 500th in the index and is no longer representative of the S&P 500 index market cap space.  That is called the MBIA boot.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) will replace Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) in the S&P 500.  Ciena will move down an index rather than be booted entirely as it will replace Blyth Inc. (NYSE: BTH) in the S&P MidCap 400, and Blyth will replace C&D Technologies Inc. (NYSE: CHP) in the S&P SmallCap 600. C&D was the smallest component of the S&P SmallCap 600, and is now too small for even the small-cap index.

S&P MidCap 400 components Ross Stores Inc. (NASD:ROST), Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE:CLF) and SAIC Inc. (NYSE:SAI) will move up an index to replace Dynegy Inc. (NYSE:DYN), KB Home Inc. (NYSE:KBH) and Convergys Corp. (NYSE:CVG) in the S&P 500 Index.   Dynegy, KB Home and Convergys will move down an index and will replace Ross Stores, Cliffs Natural Resources and SAIC in the S&P MidCap 400 index.

S&P SmallCap 600 components Senior Housing Properties Trust (NYSE: SNH), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAD: GMCR) and Atwood Oceanics Inc. (NYSE: ATW) will move up an index to replace Dycom Industries Inc.(NYSE: DY), Kelly Services Inc. (NASDAQ: KELYA) and Callaway Golf Co. (NYSE: ELY) in the S&P MidCap 400.  Dycom, Kelly Services and Callaway Golf will move down an index rather than being eliminated and will replace Senior Housing Properties, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Atwood Oceanics in the S&P SmallCap 600 index.

As most of these are index moves, they tend to have less of a formal impact on the stocks.  The big move will be Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V), which will now get to finally join the S&P 500. Its market cap varies from every source: $63.28 billion at Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance is $68.65 billion, and Bloomberg is at $60.4 billion.  Shares rose over 3.3% in the after-hours session to $84.10 after closing down 1.2% at $81.34 versus a 52-week trading range of $41.78 to $83.40.  We will have to make some calculations on Monday, but this will represent a significant buy-in trade for funds that track the S&P500 that will have to buy million of Visa shares.

JON C. OGG

• Kelly Services (KELYA) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
• KLA-Tencor (KLAC) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Lam Research (LRCX) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Marvell Technology (MRVL) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
• Robert Half (RHI) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
• Shanda Interactive (SNDA) has seen estimate and targets cut by Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs.
• Xilinx (XLNX) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Jon C. Ogg
September 4, 2008