The Dow Jones Industrial Average is dropping Chevron, Union Carbide, Goodyear, and Sears in favor of Intel, Microsoft, SBC Communications, and Home Depot. The Dow is supposed to be representative of the U.S. economy, and this move brings it much closer to that goal.

This move makes the Dow more representative of U.S. stock markets as well. INTC and MSFT are the first non-Big Board (New York Stock Exchange) stocks to be included in the DJIA. Historically, the biggest and bluest of the Blue Chips were traded on the NYSE. As companies grew, they would "graduate" from trading on the Nasdaq to the NYSE. The non-conformists in Silicon Valley put an end to that, staying with the Nasdaq rather than switching to the Big Board as their firms grew. It's time to include some of those newer Blue Chips in the Dow. The change will make the Dow more volatile, however, which coincidentally will be more representative of U.S. stock markets.

60% of the S&P 500 have reported their third quarter earnings, and they're up 25% over last year, which was relatively poor due to international financial turmoil. The GDP grew at an eye-popping 4.8% annual rate, driven by computer-related business spending, which grew at an annual rate of 21.7%. Prices for such items dropped 3.1%. The employment cost index and inflation data, suggest that inflation may even be moderating. The good news sent the Nasdaq straight up to record levels.