Investors had access to regularly published data on individual security prices in London
as early as 1698, but nearly 200 years passed before they had access to a simple indicator to reflect security market information.1 To give readers a sense of how the US stock
market in general performed on a given day, publishers Charles H. Dow and Edward
D. Jones introduced the Dow Jones Average, the world’s first security market index, in
1884.2 The index, which appeared in The Customers’ Afternoon Letter, consisted of the
stocks of nine railroads and two industrial companies. It eventually became the Dow
Jones Transportation Average.3 Convinced that industrial companies, rather than railroads, would be “the great speculative market” of the future, Dow and Jones introduced
a second index in May 1896—the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). It had an initial
value of 40.94 and consisted of 12 stocks from major US industries.4,5 Today, investors
can choose from among thousands of indices to measure and monitor different security
markets and asset classes.
as early as 1698, but nearly 200 years passed before they had access to a simple indicator to reflect security market information.1 To give readers a sense of how the US stock
market in general performed on a given day, publishers Charles H. Dow and Edward
D. Jones introduced the Dow Jones Average, the world’s first security market index, in
1884.2 The index, which appeared in The Customers’ Afternoon Letter, consisted of the
stocks of nine railroads and two industrial companies. It eventually became the Dow
Jones Transportation Average.3 Convinced that industrial companies, rather than railroads, would be “the great speculative market” of the future, Dow and Jones introduced
a second index in May 1896—the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). It had an initial
value of 40.94 and consisted of 12 stocks from major US industries.4,5 Today, investors
can choose from among thousands of indices to measure and monitor different security
markets and asset classes.
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