Dow Jones Industrial Average
stock market index
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 30 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is named after founder Charles Dow and his business associate, statistician Edward Jones. It is maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices and its components are selected by a committee.
The index is a price-weighted index; stocks with the highest price per share have the highest weighting in the index. The value of the index is the sum of the stock prices of the companies included in the index, divided by a factor, which is approximately 0.168 as of July 2026. The factor is changed whenever a constituent company undergoes a stock split so that the value of the index is unaffected by the stock split.
Because the DJIA only includes 30 components, many of which are highly correlated during periods of decline, and the fact that the components with the highest price per share have an undue weighting (Goldman Sachs has the highest weighting in the index and the index performed extremely poorly during the 2008 financial crisis due to the drop of then-component AIG), the DJIA is not considered representative of the U.S. economy and products tracking the index are not recommended as long-term investments by most financial advisors. However, in the long run, the index has performed in line with the broader S&P 500.
Products linked to the DJIA include index funds (exchange-traded funds/ETFs and mutual funds) as well as derivatives (options and futures contracts), which are available for trading in many countries with the goal of replicating the performance of the index. Also available are modified index funds; they replicate the performance of the index with modifications such as the use of covered call strategies, equal weighting, performance buffers, leverage, inclusion of only growth or value stocks, or exclusion of certain sectors, all with the goal of changing the risk/return and yield.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Dow Jones Industrial Average” as stock market index. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as stock market index. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q180816. The Library of Congress control number is sh94005436. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2026 and 2008.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Dow Jones Industrial Average”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Dow Jones Industrial Average primary sources, Dow Jones Industrial Average archive and Jones research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dow Jones Industrial Average”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Dow Jones Industrial Average” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.