The Dow Jones Through the Years

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, also called “the Dow,” is a performance measure of multiple large blue-chip companies in one index. 1884 co-founders and entrepreneurs Charles Dow and Edward Jones created the Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA).

The index began with 12 stocks, mostly in the transportation and export industries to track the expanding railroad industry. 12 years later, in 1896, the industrial average was initiated. Since its inception, it has grown to hold multiple industries in 30 stocks. The Dow is now considered by many a proxy for the strength of the overall economy.

As an average, the Dow is calculated as its name suggests: the sum of the included companies’ share prices divided by a separately calculated divisor value. The divisor is to account for the effects of stock splits on share prices to prevent the price of the Dow from being skewed.

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A list of stocks included in the Dow with their years added is listed below (as of Sept. 2022):

Bolded stocks are used in a First State Investment Advisors portfolio.