The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (/ˈdaʊ/), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States.
The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity indexes. Many professionals consider it to be an inadequate representation of the overall U.S. stock market compared to a broader market index such as the S&P 500. The DJIA includes only 30 large companies. It is price-weighted, unlike stock indices, which use market capitalization. Furthermore, the DJIA does not use a weighted arithmetic mean.
The value of the index can also be calculated as the sum of the stock prices of the companies included in the index, divided by a factor, which is approximately 0.152 as of April 2024. The factor is changed whenever a constituent company undergoes a stock split so that the value of the index is unaffected by the stock split.
First calculated on May 26, 1896, the index is the second-oldest among U.S. market indices, after the Dow Jones Transportation Average. It was created by Charles Dow, co-founder of both The Wall Street Journal and the Dow Jones & Company, and named after him and his business associate, statistician Edward Jones.
The index is maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices, an entity majority-owned by S&P Global. Its components are selected by a committee. The ten components with the largest dividend yields are commonly referred to as the Dogs of the Dow. As with all stock prices, the prices of the constituent stocks and consequently the value of the index itself are affected by the performance of the respective companies as well as macroeconomic factors.
Dow Jones Industrial Average 1970–2022
Components
As of February 26, 2024, the Dow Jones Industrial Average consists of the following companies, with a weighting as shown:
DJIA component companies, showing trading exchange, ticker symbols and industry
Company
Exchange
Symbol
Industry
Date added
Notes
Index weighting
3M
NYSE
MMM
Conglomerate
1976-08-09
As Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing
1.54%
American Express
NYSE
AXP
Financial services
1982-08-30
3.64%
Amgen
NASDAQ
AMGN
Biopharmaceutical
2020-08-31
4.80%
Amazon
NASDAQ
AMZN
Retailing
2024-02-26
2.93%
Apple
NASDAQ
AAPL
Information technology
2015-03-19
3.04%
Boeing
NYSE
BA
Aerospace and defense
1987-03-12
3.36%
Caterpillar
NYSE
CAT
Construction and mining
1991-05-06
5.45%
Chevron
NYSE
CVX
Petroleum industry
2008-02-19
Also 1930-07-18 to 1999-11-01
2.59%
Cisco
NASDAQ
CSCO
Information technology
2009-06-08
0.81%
Coca-Cola
NYSE
KO
Drink industry
1987-03-12
Also 1932-05-26 to 1935-11-20
1.02%
Disney
NYSE
DIS
Broadcasting and entertainment
1991-05-06
1.81%
Dow
NYSE
DOW
Chemical industry
1991-05-06
0.94%
Goldman Sachs
NYSE
GS
Financial services
2019-04-02
6.54%
Home Depot
NYSE
HD
Home Improvement
1999-11-01
6.23%
Honeywell
NASDAQ
HON
Conglomerate
2020-08-31
AlliedSignal and Honeywell
3.34%
IBM
NYSE
IBM
Information technology
1979-06-29
Also 1932-05-26 to 1939-03-04
3.09%
Intel
NASDAQ
INTC
Semiconductor industry
1999-11-01
0.72%
Johnson & Johnson
NYSE
JNJ
Pharmaceutical industry
1997-03-17
2.70%
JPMorgan Chase
NYSE
JPM
Financial services
1991-05-06
3.07%
McDonald’s
NYSE
MCD
Food industry
1985-10-30
4.98%
Merck
NYSE
MRK
Pharmaceutical industry
1979-06-29
2.16%
Microsoft
NASDAQ
MSFT
Information technology
1999-11-01
6.83%
Nike
NYSE
NKE
Clothing industry
2013-09-20
1.75%
Procter & Gamble
NYSE
PG
Fast-moving consumer goods
1932-05-26
2.69%
Salesforce
NYSE
CRM
Information technology
2020-08-31
5.04%
Travelers
NYSE
TRV
Insurance
2009-06-08
3.69%
UnitedHealth Group
NYSE
UNH
Managed health care
2012-09-24
8.81%
Verizon
NYSE
VZ
Telecommunications industry
2004-04-08
0.67%
Visa
NYSE
V
Financial services
2013-09-20
4.76%
Walmart
NYSE
WMT
Retailing
1997-03-17
1.00%
Former components
Main article: Historical components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average
As of February 26, 2024, the components of the DJIA have changed 58 times since its beginning on May 26, 1896. General Electric had the longest continuous presence on the index, beginning in the original index in 1896 and ending in 2018. Changes to the index since 1991 are as follows:
On May 6, 1991, Caterpillar Inc., J.P. Morgan & Co., and The Walt Disney Company replaced American Can, Navistar, and U.S. Steel.
On March 17, 1997, Travelers Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, and Walmart replaced Westinghouse Electric, Texaco, Bethlehem Steel, and F. W. Woolworth Company.
On November 1, 1999, Microsoft, Intel, SBC Communications, and Home Depot replaced Goodyear Tire, Sears Roebuck, Union Carbide, and Chevron Corporation. Intel and Microsoft became the first and second companies traded on the Nasdaq to be part of the Dow.
On April 8, 2004, American International Group, Pfizer, and Verizon Communications replaced AT&T Corporation, Kodak, and International Paper.
On February 19, 2008, Chevron Corporation and Bank of America replaced Altria Group and Honeywell. Chevron was previously a Dow component from July 18, 1930, to November 1, 1999. During Chevron’s absence, its split-adjusted price per share went from $44 to $85, while the price of petroleum rose from $24 to $100 per barrel.
On September 22, 2008, Kraft Foods Inc. replaced American International Group (AIG) in the index.
On June 8, 2009, The Travelers Companies and Cisco Systems replaced Motors Liquidation Company (formerly General Motors) and Citigroup. Cisco became the third company traded on the NASDAQ to be part of the Dow.
On September 24, 2012, UnitedHealth Group replaced Kraft Foods Inc. following Kraft’s split into Mondelez International and Kraft Foods.
On September 20, 2013, Goldman Sachs, Nike, Inc., and Visa Inc. replaced Alcoa, Bank of America, and Hewlett-Packard. Visa replaced Hewlett-Packard because of the split into HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
On March 19, 2015, Apple Inc. replaced AT&T, which had been a component of the DJIA since November 1916. Apple became the fourth company traded on the NASDAQ to be part of the Dow.
On September 1, 2017, DowDuPont replaced DuPont. DowDuPont was formed by the merger of Dow Chemical Company with DuPont.
On June 26, 2018, Walgreens Boots Alliance replaced General Electric, which had been a component of the DJIA since November 1907, after being part of the inaugural index in May 1896 and much of the 1896 to 1907 period.
On April 2, 2019, Dow Inc. replaced DowDuPont. Dow, Inc. is a spin-off of DowDuPont, itself a merger of Dow Chemical Company and DuPont.
On April 6, 2020, Raytheon Technologies replaced United Technologies. Raytheon is the name of the combination of United Technologies and the Raytheon Company, which merged as of April 3, 2020. The newly combined conglomerate does not include previous subsidiaries Carrier Global or Otis Worldwide.
On August 31, 2020, Amgen, Honeywell, and Salesforce.com replaced ExxonMobil, Pfizer, and Raytheon Technologies.
On February 26, 2024, Amazon replaced Walgreens Boots Alliance.
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