DOW sore at HP

Hummn, maybe we should bring Hurd back?  The Dow Jones index announcing that HP and two others will be dropped from the 30 company index today -- when you're down, everyone starts kicking

By 

MATT JARZEMSKY

 And 

COLIN BARR, in the Wall St Journal today:

Alcoa, a Dow component for 54 years, will be replaced by athletic gear makerNike Inc. NKE +1.07% Payments company Visa Inc. V +2.73% will replace H-P, which joined the index in 1997, and securities firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS +3.21% will supplant Bank of America, which spent five years in the blue-chip benchmark.

The changes, which will take effect with the close of trading on Sept. 20, reflect the companies' declining share prices, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, the company that oversees the Dow, said in a statement.

The changes "were prompted by the low stock price of the three companies slated for removal and the Index Committee's desire to diversify the sector and industry group representation of the index," the statement said.

While their performance has been mixed this year–H-P is up more than 50%, while Alcoa is down almost 7%–all three departing stocks have underperformed the broader stock market in recent years. Shares of New York aluminum maker Alcoa closed Monday at $8.08, down from $40 as recently as 2007. H-P, the Palo Alto, Calif., computer maker, ended at $22.36, down from $50 in 2010. Bank of America of Charlotte, N.C., was at $14.48, down from $50 in 2007.

The Dow's Ins and Outs

Changes since the late 1980s.

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