Sears declines after losing place on S&P 500

Sears Holding Corp., the retailer controlled by hedge fund manager Edward Lampert, fell the most in three months after being replaced in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index by chemical maker LyondellBasell Industries NV.

Sears declined 7.7 percent to $53 at 2:27 p.m. in New York after earlier sliding 8.5 percent, the biggest intraday drop since May 30. The shares had advanced 81 percent this year through yesterday.

S&P said Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based Sears has too few shares available for trading to be representative of American companies. LyondellBasell, a Rotterdam-based firm that emerged from bankruptcy in 2010, will join the S&P 500 after the close of trading on Sept. 4.

Sears has 106.5 million shares outstanding and 36.1 million shares that can be traded, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Lampert and his RBS Partners LP hedge fund own a total of 61.7 percent of the company, while Fairholme Capital Management has 15.8 million, regulatory data show.