|
|
Article: Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)
- Article from:
- Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE (DJIA)
A measure of stock prices of important industrial companies, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was first printed in the
Wall Street Journal
in 1897. The average is an indicator of the overall stock market and is used, along with other indexes, by investors, stockbrokers, and analysts to make investment forecasts and decisions.
In 1882 Dow, Jones and Company (the comma between the two names was later dropped) was founded by financial reporters Charles Henry Dow (1851
–
1902) and Edward Davis Jones (1856
–
1920). Since the founding of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1792, business reporting had been largely based on rumor or ...