A Sector Redo Shuffles Stocks

Some of the market’s biggest names are on the move, dealing a new hand to index funds that invest in these corners of the market.

- Ryan Ermey

If you own mutual funds or exchange-traded funds dedicated to particular sectors of the market, you may wake up on October 1 to find that some of your stock holdings aren’t where you left them. Market index providers S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI Inc. are changing the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS)—the system used to divide stocks within indexes, including Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, into industry sectors. The realignment, which will go into effect after the market closes on September 28, will result in changes to three of the current 11 sectors: consumer discretionary, information technology and telecommunications services.