Walmart Inc. (WMT.US) selected to join the Nasdaq 100 Index, debut on January 20 may trigger a passive fund allocation feast.

Nasdaq Global Indexes announced on Friday that Walmart Inc. (WMT.US) will join the Nasdaq 100 Index, replacing Astrazeneca PLC Sponsored ADR (AZN.US) in the index. This adjustment will take effect before the market opens on January 20th, with the U.S. market closed on January 19th for a holiday. This inclusion is a natural result of Walmart Inc. transferring its stock listing from the New York Stock Exchange to Nasdaq last year, making it the largest exchange transfer in history. Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. estimated in December that Walmart Inc.'s inclusion could attract nearly $19 billion in passive funds as index-tracking funds and exchange-traded products adjust their holdings. It was widely expected in the market that this retail giant would be included in the benchmark index during the annual restructuring in December, but analysts noted that due to the timing of its listing transfer, Walmart Inc. missed the market data cut-off for index compilation. With consumers increasingly favoring affordable necessities, this company based in Bentonville, Arkansas has seen its market share increase with solid sales growth, pushing its market value to nearly $1 trillion. Walmart Inc. is also expanding its digital business, with its U.S. e-commerce business expected to be profitable this year, while advertising, third-party marketplaces, and membership revenue are also growing. Recently, Walmart Inc. has increased its use of artificial intelligence in internal operations such as scheduling and supply chain management, and has partnered with OpenAI to introduce AI-based tools to shoppers. In terms of total returns, Walmart Inc.'s stock price has risen by 146% in the past three years, while Astrazeneca PLC Sponsored ADR's stock price has risen by 42% during the same period. The removal of Astrazeneca PLC Sponsored ADR from the index means that the downward trend since the peak of the pandemic continues. At that time, its Covid-19 vaccine had propelled this pharmaceutical company into the index. However, as vaccine-related revenue diminishes, investor attention has shifted to competitors developing weight-loss drugs, leading to a continued poor performance of the company's stock. The Nasdaq 100 Index tracks the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange and serves as a benchmark for investment products worth trillions of dollars. According to Nasdaq data, as of December 2025, assets tracking this index through ETFs exceeded $600 billion, including the Invesco QQQ Trust, with assets totaling $408 billion. In 2025, the Nasdaq 100 Index rose by approximately 21% in total return, while the S&P 500 Index rose by 18%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 16%.