Ferguson Enterprises rallies, set to replace EA in S&P 500
FERG•Ferguson rises after S&P 500 inclusion announcement
** Shares in Ferguson Enterprises FERG.N rose 9.5% to $256.69 in late trade on Friday after S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that it will join the benchmark S&P 500 index .SPX, replacing Electronic Arts EA.O before market open on August 5
** Ferguson, a construction distributor, had already risen 3.5% to close Friday's regular session at $234.33 for a year-to-date gain of 5.3%
Electronic Arts acquisition paves way for index change
** EA announced late on Thursday that it expects its acquisition, by a group of investors, to be completed on August 4 after the buyers had received all of the regulatory approvals needed for the deal
** After the EA announcement, at least one analyst suggested companies including Bloom Energy BE.N, Reddit RDDT.N, Astera Labs ALAB.O and Rocket Companies RKT.N could be eligible to replace the video game co in the benchmark index
** Bloom was down ~1% in late trade while Astera was off 2.3%, although volume was relatively light
