Walmart will join Nasdaq 100 on January 20 as AstraZeneca exits
Walmart Inc. is set to join the Nasdaq 100 Index, taking the place of AstraZeneca Plc, as announced by Nasdaq Global Indexes on Friday. The changes will be implemented prior to the market’s opening on January 20. It is important to note that US markets will be closed on January 19 in observance of a holiday. Walmart’s addition comes after its decision last year to transition its stock listing from the New York Stock Exchange to Nasdaq, marking the largest exchange transfer on record. In December, analysts projected that Walmart’s inclusion might lead to nearly $19 billion in inflows, as index-tracking funds and exchange-traded products adjust their portfolios. Analysts noted that the retailer was widely anticipated to join the benchmark during the index provider’s annual December reconstitution; however, the timing of the listing switch led it to miss the cutoff utilized for compiling market data.
The company based in Bentonville, Arkansas, has witnessed its market value rise to nearly $1 trillion, driven by consistent sales growth and an increase in market share, as consumers turned to more affordable essentials. Walmart has also expanded its digital operations, with its US e-commerce business anticipated to achieve profitability this year, alongside growth in advertising, marketplace, and membership revenue. The retailer has recently enhanced its application of artificial intelligence within internal operations, including scheduling and supply-chain management, and has commenced the rollout of AI-powered tools for shoppers in collaboration with OpenAI.
Walmart shares have experienced a remarkable increase of 146 per cent on a total return basis over the past three years, whereas AstraZeneca shares have seen a rise of 42 per cent. AstraZeneca’s removal marks a continuation of the stock’s decline from its pandemic-era high, a period during which its Covid-19 vaccine significantly boosted the drugmaker’s presence in the index. Shares have since underperformed as vaccine-related revenue diminished and investor focus transitioned to obesity treatments created by competitors.
The Nasdaq 100 monitors the largest non-financial firms listed on the Nasdaq exchange and serves as the foundation for hundreds of billions of dollars in investment products. As of December 2025, Nasdaq reported that over $600 billion in assets were tracked by the index through ETFs, which includes the $408 billion Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1. The Nasdaq 100 experienced an increase of approximately 21 percent on a total-return basis in 2025, surpassing the S&P 500’s gains of 18 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s rise of 16 percent.
