💹 The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is the most important and influential stock market index in the world. The S&P 500 ranks second, followed by the Nasdaq 100.

• The 30 companies in the Dow are traded on either the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or the NASDAQ.
• The Dow Jones is so important that if an equity-trading strategy doesn’t work on the Dow, it likely won’t work on any other index.
• Dow Jones provides the ultimate framework for historical backtesting when trading equities.

---

🕰️ The Short History of Dow Jones

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tracks the price changes of 30 U.S. companies, which is why it’s often called Dow 30. It was introduced in 1896 by Charles Dow. Earlier, in 1884, Dow introduced the Dow Transportation Average, the oldest stock market index in the U.S. The Dow Jones Industrial originally measured the stock prices of industrial companies with the largest raw material reserves. Over time, its composition expanded to include companies from more industries. From 1928 to today, the Dow’s composition has changed 45 times. In 2009, General Motors and Citibank were replaced by Cisco and Travelers.

🧮 The Dow Divisor

The DJIA’s price is calculated by adding the prices of its 30 stocks and dividing by a special Dow Divisor. This divisor accounts for stock splits, reverse splits, and other structural changes.

🔗 Website: » The Dow Jones Index Page

---

🌐 Companies Participating in The Dow Jones Industrial

Here are the 30 companies included in the Dow 30, with direct links to their official websites, ticker symbols, original listing dates, and current weightings on the Dow Jones Industrial (last updated in 2011).

Table: The Dow-30 Companies

No.	Company Name	Symbol	Date Listed	Weighting (%)
1	International Business Machines Corp.	IBM	1979-	10,10%
2	Caterpillar Inc.	CAT	1991	6,38%
3	Chevron Corp.	CVX	2008-	5,95%
4	3M Co.	MMM	1976	5,66%
5	United Technologies Corp.	UTX	1939 (United Aircraft)	5,25%
6	Exxon Mobil Corp.	XOM	1928-(Standard Oil)	5,11%
7	McDonald's Corp.	MCD	1985	4,70%
8	Boeing Co.	BA	1987-	4,45%
9	Procter & Gamble Co.	PG	1932	3,99%
10	Coca-Cola Co.	KO	1987-1987	3,92%
11	Johnson & Johnson	JNJ	1997-	3,74%
12	The Travelers Companies, Inc.	TRV	2009	3,64%
13	Wal-Mart Stores Inc.	WMT	1997-	3,43%
14	E,I, DuPont de Nemours & Co.	DD	1935-	3,37%
15	Hewlett-Packard Co.	HPQ	1997-	3,00%
16	American Express Co.	AXP	1982	2,88%
17	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	JPM	1991- (J.P. Morgan & Co)	2,87%
18	Walt Disney Co.	DIS	1991	2,68%
19	Home Depot Inc.	HD	1999-	2,31%
20	Verizon Communications Inc.	VZ	2004-	2,24%
21	Merck & Co, Inc.	MRK	1979-	2,04%
22	Kraft Foods Inc.	KFT	2008	1,89%
23	AT&T Inc.	T	1999	1,76%
24	Microsoft Corp.	MSFT	1999-	1,68%
25	General Electric Co.	GE	1907-	1,32%
26	Intel Corp.	INTC	1999-	1,34%
27	Pfizer Inc.	PFE	2004-	1,16%
28	Cisco Systems, Inc.	CSCO	2009-	1,15%
29	Alcoa Inc.	AA	1959	1,07%
30	Bank of America Corp.	BAC	2008-	0,91%

---

 

🕰️ Dow Jones Industrial as a Predictor of Upcoming Events

Over the years, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has proven to be a useful predictor of global political and economic events.

Here is an example. The following chart shows the Dow Jones Industrial Average before and during World War II:

1937 Point (1): Hitler gains absolute power in Germany, and the Dow Jones predicts a major war is about to start (bearish market).

1942 Point (2): Hitler begins losing the war in Russia (Operation Barbarossa), and the Dow Jones predicts the war is nearing its end (strong bullish market).

Chart: Dow Jones Industrial (1933–1946)

 

■ The Dow Jones Industrial Average

Trading Center (c)

You are not allowed to publish, reproduce, translate, merge, sell, rent, or distribute any content on this website (TradingCenter). You are also not allowed to create a derivative work or utilize framing techniques to enclose any content on this website (TradingCenter).