The Truth Behind the Dow Jones Industrial Average

Did you know…

That the Dow Jones Industrial Average is only comprised of 30 companies?  Check out the list below.

There are over 5,500 publicly traded companies in the U.S.  

Decide for yourself if the Dow is a good barometer for the stock market. 

The S&P 500 is – shocker – comprised of 500(ish) companies.  That’s why the pros use the S&P for the stock market’s barometer.

Only the financial media quote the Dow.  And they usually track each other closely, so it’s a non-issue.

Over the last year, however, the Dow is up 25% and the S&P 500 is up “only” 18%.

7% is not a small difference. 

Over the coming weeks, you’ll see more headlines (and tweets) proclaiming “The market is up 25%!”

Now you know they SHOULD READ “the 30 stocks in the Dow are up 25%.” 

The market is up 18%. 

The Dow 30
Apple
American Express
Boeing
Caterpillar
Cisco Systems
Chevron
Coca-Cola
DuPont
ExxonMobil
General Electric
Goldman Sachs
Home Depot
IBM
Intel
Johnson & Johnson
JPMorgan Chase
McDonald’s
3M Company
Merck
Microsoft
Nike
Pfizer
Procter & Gamble
The Travelers
UnitedHealth
United Technologies
Visa
Verizon
Wal-Mart
Walt Disney