When was the dow jones average created

Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Leather, and U. At the time, these companies were among the titans of American industry. When it was removed from the DJIA in it had been a Dow component continuously for over years. It was also the only company that retained its place on the DJIA under its original name since the index's inception.

Others were broken up, taken over, dissolved, or relegated to subsidiary status over the years. Like any observer, Dow saw that many or most stocks tended to move like a wave in the same direction from day to day as investors reacted to events and expectations. He sought to put a number on that daily movement.

Dow chose 12 of the biggest and most influential corporations of the day. Each was a giant in its sector, and most reflected demand for the raw materials that fed the American economy, like coal, sugar, and oil.

At the close of every trading day, he added up all of their stock prices and divided by That was the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The timing was auspicious. The United States was emerging from a recession caused by the collapse in of Philadelphia and Reading Railroads.

Even with trouble in the railroad industry, economic activity was booming. Coal remained the dominant fuel for transportation, while gas and electricity were in demand.

The Dow was initially made up of 12 stocks versus 30 today , including a leather-maker, a steel provider, and a sugar producer. It was calculated by adding up the prices of the component stocks and dividing the sum by a divisor. In he produced an average of 11 stocks, mainly railroad companies. Since the goods produced by the industrials were being delivered by the railroads, Dow reasoned that two separate measures could confirm broad market trends. The Wall Street Journal began publishing the industrial average and the railroad average in every issue and has done so ever since.

Fate: Removed from the index in the late s, added back in , and finally removed in It was a utility that was broken up in the s. Fate: Absorbed by US Steel in US Leather. Fate: A trust that was dissolved in , and finally liquidated in It's the only original member of the Dow with no corporate remnants still operating today. Fate: Removed from index in , but added back in Ultimately removed from index in Became Uniroyal and is now part of Michelin. The Dow Jones Industrial Average turned years old today.

Charles H. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Leather Company preferred U. Rubber Company By the number of stocks rose to 20 and again rose to 30 in N45 This is a republication of a title.

Bishop, Jr. Dow and the Dow Theory by George W. Bishop Call Number: HG D This title offers comprehensive data for all of the daily Averages from the earliest use of the Averages through Stillman Call Number: HG S73 Greiner and Hale C. Whitcomb Call Number: HG D67 Rosenberg Call Number: HG R69