Facebook, Alphabet shifted in sector classification system

S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI said on Thursday they would rename their Telecommunication Services Sector and add Comcast Corp , Netflix , Facebook and Alphabet to the newly broadened category.

In an overhaul of the Global Industry Classification Standard, or GICS, an industry taxonomy widely used by investors, the Telecommunication Services Sector will be expanded and renamed Communication Services, S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI said in a statement.

The new classification puts Facebook, Netflix Inc and Google parent Alphabet - companies whose explosive growth has helped propel a stock-market rally - alongside traditional telecom players including AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications .

Indexes including the S&P 500 are a guide for trillions of dollars of capital worldwide, including index-tracking, exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Many of those funds track sector-specific indexes and could be affected by the GICS changes.

S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI said in November 2017 that they were planning changes to the categories and that they would be implemented after the close of business on Sept. 28, 2018.

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