The Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DJI), also called the DJIA, Dow 30, or informally the Dow Jones or The Dow) is one of several stock market indices created by nineteenth century Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow. Dow compiled the index as a way to gauge the performance of the industrial component of America's stock markets. It is the second oldest continuing U.S. market index, after the Dow Jones Transportation Average, which Dow also created.

Today, the average consists of 30 of the largest and most widely held public companies in the United States. The "industrial" portion of the name is largely historical—many of the 30 modern components have little to do with heavy industry. The average is price-weighted. To compensate for the effects of stock splits and other adjustments, it is currently a scaled average, not the actual average of the prices of its component stocks—the sum of the component prices is divided by a divisor, which changes whenever one of the component stocks has a stock split or stock dividend, to generate the value of the index. Since the divisor is currently less than one, the value of the index is higher than the sum of the component prices.

Company	Symbol	Industry	Date Added
3M	(NYSE: MMM)	Diversified Industrials	1976-08-09 (as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing)
Alcoa	(NYSE: AA)	Aluminum	1959-06-01 (as Aluminum Company of America)
American Express	(NYSE: AXP)	Consumer finance	1982-08-30
American International Group	(NYSE: AIG)	Full Line Insurance	2004-04-08
AT&T	(NYSE: T)	Telecommunication	1999-11-01 (as SBC Communications)
Bank of America	(NYSE: BAC)	Institutional and Retail banking	2008-02-19
Boeing	(NYSE: BA)	Aerospace & Defense	1987-03-12
Caterpillar	(NYSE: CAT)	Commercial Vehicles & Trucks	1991-05-06
Chevron Corporation	(NYSE: CVX)	Oil and gas	2008-02-19
Citigroup	(NYSE: C)	Banks	1997-03-17 (as Travelers Group)
Coca-Cola	(NYSE: KO)	Beverages	1987-03-12
DuPont	(NYSE: DD)	Commodity Chemicals	1935-11-20
ExxonMobil	(NYSE: XOM)	Integrated Oil & Gas	1928-10-01 (as Standard Oil (N.J.))
General Electric	(NYSE: GE)	Diversified Industrials	1907-11-07
General Motors	(NYSE: GM)	Automobiles	1925-08-31
Hewlett-Packard	(NYSE: HPQ)	Diversified Computer Systems	1997-03-17
Home Depot	(NYSE: HD)	Home improvement retailers	1999-11-01
Intel	(NASDAQ: INTC)	Semiconductors	1999-11-01
IBM	(NYSE: IBM)	Computer services	1979-06-29
Johnson & Johnson	(NYSE: JNJ)	Pharmaceuticals	1997-03-17
JPMorgan Chase	(NYSE: JPM)	Banks	1991-05-06 (as J.P. Morgan & Company)
McDonald's	(NYSE: MCD)	Restaurants & Bars	1985-10-30
Merck	(NYSE: MRK)	Pharmaceuticals	1979-06-29
Microsoft	(NASDAQ: MSFT)	Software	1999-11-01
Pfizer	(NYSE: PFE)	Pharmaceuticals	2004-04-08
Procter & Gamble	(NYSE: PG)	Non-Durable Household Products	1932-05-26
United Technologies Corporation	(NYSE: UTX)	Aerospace, Heating/Cooling, Elevators	1939-03-14 (as United Aircraft)
Verizon Communications	(NYSE: VZ)	Telecommunication	2004-04-08
Wal-Mart	(NYSE: WMT)	Broadline Retailers	1997-03-17
Walt Disney	(NYSE: DIS)	Broadcasting & Entertainment	1991-05-06

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Document licence.