Block shares soar 10% on entry into S&P 500

Shares of Block surged more than 10% in after-hours trading on Friday as the fintech company prepares to be included in the prestigious S&P 500 index, taking the place of Hess. This marks the second adjustment to the index in just a week, following S&P Global's announcement on Monday that The Trade Desk, a prominent ad-tech firm, would also be added to the S&P 500, replacing software developer Ansys. The transition comes after Ansys was acquired by Synopsys in a deal finalized on Thursday. Meanwhile, Hess is exiting the index shortly after Chevron’s successful $54 billion acquisition of the oil producer, which concluded amidst a legal battle with Exxon Mobil over offshore oil assets in Guyana. Typically, changes to the S&P 500 occur during its quarterly rebalancing. However, when an acquisition is finalized, a company can be removed and replaced outside of this schedule. Just last week, Datadog, a monitoring software company, replaced Juniper Networks as part of the index's regular updates. This situation is still developing, and updates will follow as more information becomes available.