Dow Jones adds Travelers, Cisco, drops Citigroup, GM

NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow Jones industrial average is adding Travelers Cos. and Cisco Systems Inc., dropping Citigroup Inc. and General Motors Corp.

The announcement Monday of the changes to the 30 stocks that make up the best-known barometer of Wall Street comes as GM enters bankruptcy protection, a move that was widely expected.

Dow Jones said Travelers, the property and casualty insurer and one-time division of Citicorp, would replace its former parent. Cisco, which makes computer networking gear, is filling the role left by GM after 83 years as part of the Dow.

The changes will take effect next Monday.

Dow Jones said it chose Travelers to increase the representation of the financial industry to the index. Dow dropped insurer American International Group Inc. in September after the federal government funneled billions to the company to keep it afloat during the financial crisis. Kraft Foods Inc. replaced AIG.

The company said the change in the fall left financials underrepresented in the index.

Dow Jones added Cisco “because its 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,” Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Robert Thomson said in a statement.

Changes occur rarely, though analysts widely expected GM would be replaced if it sought bankruptcy protection.