May 26, 2021
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is 125!
One hundred twenty-five years ago, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (“the Dow”) was born, debuting as America’s stock market index. May 26, 1896, the index started with 12 companies. These, as was the sign of the times, were industrial companies like coal, oil and sugar corporations. In 1928, the Dow was expanded to include 30 companies.
The most recent change to the modern day Dow was last year. On August 24, 2020, Salesforce, Amgen and Honeywell were added to the Dow, replacing Exxon-Mobil, Pfizer, and Raytheon Technologies. The index has evolved from a basket of “smokestack” companies to reflect today’s more technology and service-driven economy.
Since its inception, the Dow has increased at a rate of 7.69% a year, to a level of over 34,400 today. Some of its milestones are hitting 100 for the first time in 1906, 1000 in 1972, and 10,000 in 1999.
Here’s to its next celebratory milestone…!
