Dow-Jones Industrial Average

Definition:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, more frequently know simply as the Dow or the Dow Jones, is a stock market index made up of 30 of the largest publicly-owned companies based in the United States. It is a price weighted index meaning that the index’s price is an average of the price of the 30 stocks that make it up. Though it is price weighted, this does not mean that every time there is split the index is completely changed, as they have factors to keep the value of the index consistent.

DJIA_historical-1024x512

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was first calculated on May 26, 1896 by Charles Dow and one of his business associates, statistician Edward Jones. It is the second oldest U.S. market index, though the contents of the index have changed multiple times. Its purpose was as straightforward as it was revolutionary: At the time, everyone who wanted to know how the stock market was doing had to filter through numerous newspapers, journals, and hearsay, which was a huge amount of information that was very difficult to process. Dow and Jones built the averages as a “market thermometer”, so a casual observer could see whether the markets as a whole were moving upwards or downwards over a given day.

The average is not a simple average of the prices of all of its components; rather it is a weighted average taking into account the differences in stock prices of all companies it tracks, and measures the change of the group as a whole. By choosing the largest and most stable companies in each of the main industrial sector, the average acts as a stable indicator to how the markets as a whole are performing.

While there are not many companies in the Dow, it is made up of some very large, and very stable, Blue Chip Stocks. Since these businesses have proven their value over time, the ups and downs of the Dow can be a very strong indicator of investor sentiment across the entire economy.

Current Companies in the DOW:

Symbol Company Name Quotes and Charts
AAPL Apple Inc Click here for a quote!AAPL[/lq]
AXP American Express Co Click here for a quote!AXP[/lq]
BA Boeing Co Click here for a quote!BA[/lq]
CAT Caterpillar Inc Click here for a quote!AXP[/lq]
CSCO Cisco Systems Inc Click here for a quote!CAT[/lq]
CVX Chevron Corp Click here for a quote!CVX[/lq]
DD E I du Pont de Nemours and Co Click here for a quote!DD[/lq]
DIS Walt Disney Co Click here for a quote!DIS[/lq]
GE General Electric Co Click here for a quote!GE[/lq]
GS Goldman Sachs Group Inc Click here for a quote!GS[/lq]
HD Home Depot Inc Click here for a quote!HD[/lq]
IBM International Business Machines Corp Click here for a quote!IBM[/lq]
INTC Intel Corp Click here for a quote!INTC[/lq]
JNJ Johnson & Johnson Click here for a quote!JNJ[/lq]
JPM JPMorgan Chase and Co Click here for a quote!JPM[/lq]
KO Coca-Cola Co Click here for a quote!KO[/lq]
MCD McDonald’s Corp Click here for a quote!MCD[/lq]
MMM 3M Co Click here for a quote!MMM[/lq]
MRK Merck & Co Inc Click here for a quote!MRK[/lq]
MSFT Microsoft Corp Click here for a quote!MSFT[/lq]
NKE Nike Inc Click here for a quote!NKE[/lq]
PFE Pfizer Inc Click here for a quote!PFE[/lq]
PG Procter & Gamble Co Click here for a quote!PG[/lq]
TRV Travelers Companies Inc Click here for a quote!TRV[/lq]
UNH UnitedHealth Group Inc Click here for a quote!UNH[/lq]
UTX United Technologies Corp Click here for a quote!UTX[/lq]
V Visa Inc Click here for a quote!V[/lq]
VZ Verizon Communications Inc Click here for a quote!VZ[/lq]
WMT Wal Mart Stores Inc Click here for a quote!WMT[/lq]
XOM Exxon Mobil Corp Click here for a quote!XOM[/lq]

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About Kevin Smith

Kevin is the content manager for Personal Finance Lab and is from Chicago, Illinois. He has a Master's Degree in Economics from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. In addition to an economics background, he has also built training manuals to prepare finance companies for licensing requirements in mortgage loan origination and insurance sales.