Is the dow up today?

About the DOW:The Dow is a combined average of how 30 of the largest US-listed companies have traded today. It takes the market cap and price into account, for it’s a weighted average. It is a great metric to show how the US markets have performed on a given day.

What companies are in the dow?
As of June 2018 the Dow is the following 30 companies.
3M Ticker: MMM
AXP American Express Ticker: AXP
AAPL Apple Ticker: AAPL
BA Boeing Ticker: BA
Caterpillar Ticker: CAT
Chevron Ticker: CVX
Cisco Ticker: CSCO
Coca Cola Ticker: KO
Disney Ticker: DIS
DowDuPont Ticker: DWDP
Exxon Mobil Ticker: XOM
General Electric Ticker: GE
Goldman Sachs Ticker: GS
Home Depot Ticker: HD
IBM Ticker: IBM
Intel Ticker: INTC
Johnson & Johnson Ticker: JNJ
JPMorgan Chase Ticker: JPM
McDonald’s Ticker: MCD
Merck Ticker: MRK
Microsoft Ticker: MSFT
Nike Ticker: NKE
Pfizer Ticker: PFE
Procter & Gamble Ticker: G
Travelers Companies Inc Ticker: TRV
United Technologies Ticker: UTX
UnitedHealth Ticker: UNH
Verizon Ticker: VZ
Visa Ticker: V
Walmart Ticker: WMT

That’s the Dow Jones Industrial Average to be precise. Have you ever wondered where the name Dow Jones comes from? Well, it’s actually named after Charles Dow and his associate Edward Jones. They founded the Dow Jones & Company in the late 19th century and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was created in 1896 as a way to track the performance of the US stock market.

So, what exactly is the DJIA? It’s a price-weighted index, which means that it’s calculated based on the stock prices of its 30 component companies. However, the value of the Dow is not actually the average of the prices of these stocks. Instead, it’s the total of the stock prices divided by a divisor, which changes whenever one of the component stocks has a split or dividend.

This might sound a little confusing, but basically what it means is that the Dow is a weighted average, with higher-priced stocks having a greater impact on the overall value of the index. So, if a high-priced stock like Apple has a good day, it will have a bigger impact on the Dow’s performance than a lower-priced stock like Cisco.

Despite its quirks, the Dow is still probably the most popular benchmark for tracking overall US stock market activity and exchange health. Investors and analysts alike often use it as a barometer for the health of the US economy, and it’s also used as a reference point for various financial products such as futures contracts and exchange-traded funds.

Of course, it’s worth noting that the Dow isn’t perfect. Because it only tracks 30 companies, it’s not necessarily representative of the entire US stock market. In fact, there are many other indices out there that track different segments of the market, such as the S&P 500 (which tracks 500 large-cap companies) and the Russell 2000 (which tracks small-cap companies).

Still, the Dow remains an important and widely-watched index, and it’s likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Whether you’re an experienced investor or just starting out, it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on the Dow and its movements. Who knows, you might just learn something new about the fascinating world of finance!