Who created the Dow Jones Industrial Average?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was originally devised by Charles Dow (one of the founding partners in the Dow Jones Company, Inc.) in 1896 as a way for investors to compare the price changes of many individual industrial stocks to the course of the market as a whole. The flagship publication of the Dow Jones & Company was, and is, the over a century-old Wall Street Journal. Daily publication of the DJIA in The Wall Street Journal began on October 7, 1896. The number of industrial average stocks expanded over time to the current 30 in 1928. The 30 stocks now in the index are all major factors in their industries, and their stocks are widely held. They represent about one-fifth of the $10 trillion-plus market value of all U.S. stocks and about one-fourth of the value of stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange. At present, the editors of The Wall Street Journal select the components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
