40 Quotes by David Blitzer

As long as Alan Greenspan's not frowning, I'm not too worried.

This is a year of unusually low S&P index turnover due to the low number of mergers and acquisitions in the large-cap sector. So we are making the change at a time when the impact on index investors will be minimized.

This change makes the S&P 500 a better reflection of the large cap segment of the U.S. equities market. Index funds and exchange-traded funds can expect lower operating and transaction expenses and less tracking error.

This investment continues our focus of investing in high-quality, stable, cash-generative businesses.

A lot of companies are feeling increasing pressure to be responsive to their shareholders and to make sure their shareholders are sharing their profits. One way to do that is to raise dividends.

Also, they're in such bad trouble, who notices the fuel costs?

There is truth to the fact that competition and markets are more global, especially in the U.S., where being protective of the home company is a little less fashionable than it was 10 or 15 years ago. Merging provides a role for these folks and makes them a surviving entity.

A change of 7% or 8% in estimated earnings for the S&P 500 is significant, especially if investors are not fully aware of what caused the change.

It's just a lack of consistency. Companies change the definition quarter to quarter, whichever looks best - that's not a reasonable way to do business.