Visual History Of The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is one of the oldest and most well-known benchmarks in today’s marketplace. The index is comprised of the 30 largest stocks in the United States, and it has seen some dramatic changes over the years. The Dow’s specific goal is to reliably measure the performance of the U.S. stock market, and as such it has spawned a number of related ETFs. State Street’s (DIA, B) is easily the most popular, but also related products like iShares’ (IYE, A) and Schwab’s (SCHH, A).
But the index has also chosen to exclude some big name stocks over the years. For instance both Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) have market caps more than large enough for inclusion, yet they are not represented. The Dow reserves the right to subjective discretion for inclusion, as decided upon by the Averages Committee. In Apple and Google’s case, their high stock prices would be a major shift to a price-weighted index whose average stock falls just below $60. But despite excluding some big names, the Dow has also been home to some of the biggest blue chips in recent years [see also 7 Simple & Cheap All-ETF Model Portfolios].
Below, we outline the top ten components of the Dow Jones since 1999. Simply click on a year to see which companies dominated this index during that particular time. Be sure to check out our visual pieces on both the NASDAQ-100 and S&P 500.
