What is the Dow

If you turn on your local financial news, you're bound to hear the phrase Dow Jones Industrial Average at some point. Most people assume that this just means the stock market, or that it refers to the New York Stock Exchange. But what is the Dow, and what exactly does it measure?

The Dow is a market average. It is used by investors to figure out how certain companies that are being traded are doing. The Dow isn’t the only market average out there, there is the S&P 500 and The Russel 2000, as well.

The Dow takes into account 30 industrial stocks of well-known companies. The 30 companies are likely ones you’ve heard of, like Goodyear, Exxon, IBM or General Motors. The Dow calculates the rises and falls of these 30 stocks and presents a picture of how the overall market and the overall economy are doing. While it may sound complicated, it really isn't. The Dow is simply a list of 30 companies that have their estimated values averaged together with a particular formula.

The other averages follow essentially the same methods. The S&P 500 uses the values of 500 major companies, while the Russel 2000 keeps up with 2,000 companies that are smaller than the ones used in the S&P and Dow.

The key to following the Dow or any of the other market indexes is to look for trends. Market analysts can decipher problems or benefits in the current economy by looking for particular stocks that go up in certain situation, and particular stocks that go down in others.

The Dow company, now known as Dow Jones & Company was founded in 1882 and they classify themselves as a financial information and publishing firm.

The Dow is responsible for the publication of the Wall Street Journal, maybe the most well known financial publication in the world. The Journal’s first issue was on July 8, 1889. Dow also publishes several other financial publications, as well as Barron's Magazine.

The Dow also runs several websites dedicated to financial news and information, such as CareerJournal.com and OpinionJournal.com.

The Dow also has a hand in the broadcasting world, where it helps to provide financial content for the CNBC cable network, as well as two finance-oriented radio shows.

The Dow Jones & Company machine is one of the most powerful forces in American investing. Their indices are the industry standard, and the Wall Street Journal has the second highest circulation of any newspaper in North America. The Dow helped to start finance in the US and they look to be a big part of finance in the future.