Apple Inc to join Dow industrials index this month, replacing AT&T Inc

'This is a sign of the times,' said one investment manager.

Apple holds a market capitalization of about US$736 billion, making it the largest publicly traded company in the world — over 4 times that of AT&T at US$176.5 billion.

The referenced article reveals interesting information about the DJIA. So it would seem that a small committee is in charge of establishing the benchmark that is used to determine the "health" of many fiscal entities. It also seems that the change, like past changes, in the composition is being done to boost the numerical value of the DJIA.

Might be a good time to invest in a Dow Jones tracking mutual fund?

One of the differences between mutual funds in the USA and in Canada is that most south of the 49th are closed-ended funds, whereas north of the 49th they're open-ended, which makes trading in same far easier (in every sense).

As for index funds in general, they're a relatively safe bet (unless they're promoted by Bernie Madoff or the guy who cold calls you at dinnertime and their ilk).

my question when I saw this is "why did this take so long to happen? what did they have to do, buy a country or two first? they dwarf a lot of the others already on the list..."

Because the committee that makes the decision is very conservative when it comes to changing anything. (Just be glad they are not in charge of changing the TP in the restroom. )

Which reminds me of the joke ...
"Got change for a ten?"

I recently did a bit of reading about her xxx* life and found that that line is attributed to Tallulah Bankhead.

* Supply your own adjective

Edit: Pun intended

Given that she passed from the scene almost 50 years ago, I'm betting that the reference to Tallulah Bankhead stratifies participants of these forums into two non-overlapping groups:
"Haah?" and "I remember her well".

With a bit of reading, the "Haahs?" will be converted to "Wa-Haaahs!"