Cisco Supplants Bankrupt GM on Dow Jones Index

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) on Monday secured a prestigious position on Wall Street.

The Silicon Valley company, considered a leading indicator for the technology sector, found out it will replace newly bankrupt General Motors on the Dow Jones Industrial Average on June 8. Until then, Cisco will continue to trade on the NASDAQ, where its stock soared on Monday’s news, closing up $1 at $19.50.

Citigroup, too, was kicked off the index – for its reliance on government bail-out money – and will be succeeded by insurance giant Travelers Co.

The Dow is limited to 30 companies and, with the addition of Cisco, includes just three tech firms. Cisco will trade alongside Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Intel Corp. (INTC).

Dow Jones executives said they chose Cisco as GM’s replacement because of its impact on the United States in the 21st century. Cisco’s “communications and computer-networking products are vital to an economy and culture still adapting to the Information Age – just as automobiles were essential to America in the 20th Century,” said Robert Thomson, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal and editor-in-chief for all of Dow Jones, in a prepared statement.

GM reigned on the Dow for 83 years; Citigroup traded there since 1997.