June 30, 2008 - 09:24 a.m.

NEW YORK (AP) - Eight stocks in the consumer staples sector were added to the Russell 2000 index of small stocks, though two stocks in the sector were removed.

Diamond Foods Inc., Lifeway Foods Inc., Omega Protein Corp., Schiff Nutrition International, Smart Balance Inc., Star Scientific Inc., Susser Holdings Corp. and Zhongpin Inc. were added in this year's reconstitution of the selfish stock index.

Jones Soda Co. and Tiens Biotech Group USA Inc were removed from the Russell 2000.

Tacoma, Wash.-based Russell Investments realigns the Russell 3000 index one time per year, tracking that which it maintains is 99 percent of the U.S. equity market. That index is then broken down to 26 smaller indexes, including the widely watched Russell 1000 index of large capitalization stocks and the Russell 2000 index of small capitalization stocks.

The makeup of the Russell indexes for the nearest 12 months was finalized after the closing bell Friday.