Spread betting & Dow Jones
Dow Jones
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
(NYSE: DJI) is one of several stock market indices created by Wall
Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company founder Charles Dow.
Dow compiled the index as a way to gauge the performance of the
industrial component of America's stock markets. It is the oldest
continuing U.S. market index.
Today, the average
consists of 30 of the largest and most widely held public companies in
the United States. The "industrial" portion of the name is largely
historical - many of the 30 modern components have little to do with
heavy industry. To compensate for the effects of stock splits and other
adjustments, it is currently a scaled average, not the actual average
of the prices of its component stocks - the actual average of prices is
multipled by a scale factor, which changes over time, to generate the
value of the index.
The individual components of the
DJIA are occasionally changed as market conditions warrant. They are
selected by the editors of The Wall Street Journal. When companies are
replaced, the individual weightings are adjusted so that the value of
the average is not directly affected by the change.
On
November 1, 1999, Chevron, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Sears
Roebuck, and Union Carbide were removed from the DJIA and replaced by
Intel, Microsoft, Home Depot, and SBC Communications. Intel and
Microsoft became the first two companies traded on the NASDAQ exchange
to be listed in the DJIA. On April 8, 2004, another change occurred as
International Paper, AT&T, and Eastman Kodak were replaced with
Pfizer, Verizon, and AIG. On December 1, 2005 AT&T's original T
symbol returned to the DJIA as a result of the SBC Communications and
AT&T merger.
List of Dow Jones Companies
The Dow Jones Industrial Average consists of the following 30 companies:
- 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) (conglomerates, "manufacturing")
- ALCOA Inc. (NYSE: AA) (aluminum)
- Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) (tobacco, foods)
- American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) (credit services)
- American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) (property & casualty insurance)
- AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) (telecoms)
- Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) (aerospace/defense)
- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) (farm & construction equipment)
- Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) (money center banks)
- Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) (beverages)
- E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE: DD) (chemicals)
- Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) (major integrated oil & gas)
- General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) (conglomerates, media)
- General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) (auto manufacturers)
- Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) (diversified computer systems)
- Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) (home improvement stores)
- Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) (conglomerates)
- Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) (semiconductors)
- International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) (diversified computer systems)
- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) (consumer and health care products conglomerate)
- JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) (money center banks)
- McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) (restaurant franchise)
- Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) (drug manufacturers)
- Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) (software)
- Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) (drug manufacturers)
- Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) (consumer goods)
- United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) (conglomerates)
- Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) (telecoms)
- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) (discount, variety stores)
- Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) (entertainment)