Dow Jones or the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is one of the oldest and most widely tracked stock market indices in the world. Dow Jones was created to have an indicator that shows the overall health of the US economy.
It tracks the performance of the top 30 blue-chip companies in the US. These companies are called blue-chip because they are well-established in their respective sectors and have a long track-record of stable earnings.
The reason the Dow Jones Industrial Average is seen as an indicator of the US economy is that the performance of large industrial companies in the early 20th century was closely linked to that of the overall economy. As a result, investors started considering the fluctuations in Dow Jones’ values to gauge the direction of the US economy.
That said, over time, the index’s composition has undergone changes several times. As of today, Dow Jones has many tech stocks as its components. Now that you have learnt what Dow Jones is or Dow Jones’ definition, let us delve deeper into this topic.
Why is the Dow Jones Industrial Average called as such?
The reason Dow Jones is called as such is because of the names of two of the three people who founded Dow Jones & Company in 1882. The company’s founders were Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser. They also set up one of the most popular financial newspapers in the world – The Wall Street Journal – in 1889. Later, in 1896, Charles Dow and Edward Jones collaborated to create the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The Dow Divisor and Index Calculation
The Dow Divisor plays an important role in the calculation of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In simple words, the Dow Divisor is the number that is used for calculating the level of Dow Jones.
The weighted arithmetic average method, a very common method to calculate stock market indices, is not used in the calculation of Dow Jones. Instead, Dow Jones is calculated by first adding the stock prices of all of its 30 components. Then, the resultant number is divided by the Dow Divisor.
It may sound too simple, but it is not. This is because the value of the Dow Divisor is regularly adjusted to account for corporate actions, like stock splits and dividend payments. If the Dow Divisor is not adjusted, then events like stock splits, dividend payouts, and spin-offs can change the value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average incorrectly. To correctly consider the impact of such corporate actions, the Dow Divisor is constantly adjusted.
What are the Components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average?
Today, Dow Jones is made up of 30 leading stocks in the US. However, when it was launched way back in 1896, it comprised only 12 stocks, which were mostly from the industrial sector. These stocks were predominantly from sectors like cotton, railroads, sugar, gas, tobacco, and oil.
It was only by 1928 that the index started including the prices of 30 stocks in its calculations. Ever since then, the composition of Dow Jones has changed many times. When a company ceases to meet the criteria of inclusion in Dow Jones, it is replaced. US Steel was also dropped from the index in 1991.
Currently, the components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average are listed below:
SYMBOL
| COMPANY NAME
|
AMZN
| Amazon.com Inc
|
AXP
| American Express Co
|
AMGN
| Amgen Inc
|
AAPL
| Apple Inc
|
BA
| Boeing Co
|
CAT
| Caterpillar Inc
|
CSCO
| Cisco Systems Inc
|
CVX
| Chevron Corp
|
GS
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc
|
HD
| Home Depot Inc
|
HON
| Honeywell International Inc
|
IBM
| International Business Machines Corp
|
JNJ
| Johnson & Johnson
|
KO
| Coca-Cola Co
|
JPM
| JPMorgan Chase & Co
|
MCD
| McDonald’s Corp
|
MMM
| 3M Co
|
MRK
| Merck & Co Inc
|
MSFT
| Microsoft Corp
|
NKE
| Nike Inc
|
PG
| Procter & Gamble Co
|
SHW
| Sherwin-Williams Co
|
TRV
| Travelers Companies Inc
|
UNH
| Unitedhealth Group Inc
|
CRM
| Salesforce Inc
|
NVDA
| NVIDIA Corp
|
VZ
| Verizon Communications Inc
|
V
| Visa Inc
|
WMT
| Walmart Inc
|
DIS
| Walt Disney Co
|
Conclusion
If you have just opened a trading account and intend to participate in the Indian stock market, you should track the values of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on a daily basis. You may wonder why because Dow Jones is made up of American stocks. However, these stocks are world leaders in their sectors.
Some of these stocks include Amazon, Apple, Microsoft Corp, and Nike Inc. The performance of such companies can tell you how the US economy is doing. In an increasingly globalised economy, the ups and downs of the stock markets in the US can affect the Indian financial markets as well. Hence, you should track leading indices like the DJIA, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 regularly.
Additional Read: Dow Jones Hits Record High Amidst Strong Economic Data, Nasdaq and S&P 500 Follow Suit