GM to fall off Dow index, NYSE

General Motors Corp. stock will be dropped from the Dow Jones industrial average and stop trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

GM said it was notified today by the New York Stock Exchange that the exchange will suspend trading of GM common on Tuesday. The NYSE often will suspend trading and consider delisting a company from the exchange, if a company falls below any continued listing standards and files or announces its intent to file for relief under any provisions of any bankruptcy laws.

Once trading is halted on the NYSE, GM stock could trade in the over-the-counter market.

GM will leave the Dow Jones industrial average as of June 8.

Once a company files for bankruptcy protection, as GM did today, it is automatically disqualified from being one of the 30 stocks that are part of the Dow index.

GM, which was added to the Dow in 1925, is going to be replaced by Cisco Systems Inc.

Citigroup Inc. also will leave the Dow next week and be replaced by Travelers Co. Dow Jones reported that Citigroup would leave the benchmark index because the bank is in the midst of a substantial restructuring where the federal government will hold a large and ongoing stake.

Dow Jones editor-in-chief Robert Thomson said that once Citigroup had revamped itself it could be possibly put back into the index.

“We genuinely hope that once the bank has refashioned itself that we will again be able to consider it for inclusion – Citigroup is a renowned institution, not only in this country, but around the world,” Thomson said.

Shortly after 11 a.m. today, GM stock was up 20 cents a share to 95 cents – or up 26.7% from Friday’s close.