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The most often quoted
stock market indicator is the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). In
1884, Charles Dow averaged closing prices of 12 representative stocks
and the DJIA was christened. Since then it has been expanded to include
30 familiar blue chip companies to be more representative of the country's
largest companies.
The calculation is
also changed to reflect stock splits. While this index is not reflective
of the entire stock market, watching changes in the DJIA can help you
stay abreast of current conditions.
Original Dow Stocks
|
American
Cotton Oil
|
Laclede
Gas
|
|
American
Sugar
|
National
Lead
|
|
American
Tobacco
|
North
American
|
|
Chicago
Gas
|
Tennessee
Coal & Iron
|
|
Distilling
& Cattle Feeding
|
U.
S. Leather preferred
|
|
General
Electric
|
U.
S. Rubber
|
Current
DJIA Stocks
| 3M
Company |
Intel |
| Alcoa
Inc. |
International
Business Machines |
| American
Express |
J.P.
Morgan Chase & Company |
| AT&T
Incorporated |
Johnson
& Johnson |
| Bank
of America Corporation |
Kraft
Foods |
| Boeing
Company |
McDonald's
Corporation |
| Caterpillar
Incorporated |
Merck
& Company, Incorporated |
| Chevron
Corporation |
Pfizer
Incorporated |
| Cisco
Systems, Inc. |
Microsoft
Corporation |
| Coca-Cola
Company |
Proctor
& Gamble Company |
| DuPont |
Travelers
Companies, Inc. |
| Exxon
Mobil Corporation |
United
Technologies Corporation |
| General
Electric Company |
Verizon
Communications Inc. |
| Hewlett-Packard
Incorporated |
Wal-Mart
Stores Incorporated |
| Home
Depot Incorporated |
Walt
Disney Company |
In February, 2008,
Bank of America Corporation and Chevron Corporation replaced Altria Group
Incorporated and Honeywell International, Incorporated. In September 2008,
Kraft Foods replaced American International Group. In June, 2009, Travelers
Companies, Inc. replaced Citigroup Incorporated and Cisco Systems, Inc.
replaced General Motors Corporation.
The DJIA is the most
well known stock market indicator. However, the S+P500 and NASDAQ indexes
include a broader selection of stocks including smaller companies.
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