Dow Jones Industrial Average

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is a price-weighted index which tracks the performance of 30 key stocks of companies headquartered in the United States and listed on the New York Stock exchange (NYSE).

The index, originally created by journalist Charles Dow, is now published by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It is one of the most important indexes in terms of influence on the stock market as a whole.

Companies tracked by the DJIA are primarily industrial, manufacturing companies. However, the index also tracks major companies in the service sector. The stocks of companies in the transportation sector, on the other hand, are tracked by the Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA).

Most Swiss brokers offer investment vehicles which use the DJIA as their underlying asset. These include DJIA options, DJIA exchange traded funds (ETFs), DJIA index funds and DJIA contracts for difference (CFDs).

See also: Dow Theory

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