Was the Dow Jones Industrial Average the oldest stock index?
Nope – on July 3, 1884, Charles Dow created the first one: the Dow Jones Transportation Average. It consisted of 11 transportation-related companies (most of which were railroads). 3. The first 12 stocks listed and what happened to them The first 12 stocks listed in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, published on May 26, 1896 were industrial (or so called “smokestack” companies). Of these 12, only 1 (General Electric) is still doing business under the same name: Company What happened to it American Cotton Oil Became Bestfoods American Sugar Evolved into Amstar Holdings American Tobacco Broken up in 1991 antitrust action, part of which became Fortune Brands and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Chicago Gas Absorbed by Peoples Gas Distilling & Cattle Feeding Evolved into Millennium Chemical General Electric Still General Electric Laclede Gas Still Laclede Gas, but no longer listed in the Dow National Lead Becomes NL Industries, now manufactures titanium dioxide pigments North American This holdin
