Essex Property replaces Cliffs Natural S&P 500
Essex Property Trust replaces Cliffs Natural Resources in key S&P 500 index
NEW YORK (AP) -- Essex Property Trust Inc., which owns and develops apartment buildings, is replacing Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. in the Standard & Poor's 500 index.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Essex is growing, and its shares have risen 15 percent this year. In December it agreed to buy rival BRE Properties in a cash-and-stock deal then valued at about $4.3 billion. Essex shares gained 1.6 percent to $168 in after-hours trading.
Stocks often get a boost when they are added to major indexes because investment funds that mirror the indexes must buy the recently added stocks.
But iron ore and coal producer Cliffs, which is based in Cleveland, is cutting costs, idling a Canadian mine and suspending the expansion of another. Its shares have dropped 27 percent this year and slipped nearly 1 percent in extended trading to $19.09 Wednesday.
The change will happen Tuesday, April 1, said S&P Dow Jones Indices.
