Dow Jones

Price-weighted index of 30 blue-chip US companies. The oldest equity benchmark in the world (1896), though its price-weighting makes it less representative than the S&P 500.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a historical artifact of the pre-computer era when only a simple price average was computationally feasible. It is heavily criticized by market professionals: a stock trading at $500 has 10× the index influence of a $50 stock regardless of company size. This creates structural distortions — UnitedHealth Group's high share price gives it ~9.5% of the index despite not being the largest company.

Despite its methodological flaws, the Dow remains the most recognizable market indicator in public discourse, heavily cited in media and by politicians. Its 30 constituents are hand-picked blue chips that represent a cross-section of American industry — making it a useful qualitative snapshot of corporate America, even if its weighting makes it less useful as a statistical benchmark.