{"id":639938,"date":"2024-08-30T15:00:09","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ftmo.com\/?p=639938"},"modified":"2024-08-30T15:02:42","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T13:02:42","slug":"why-is-the-djia-so-popular-among-traders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ftmo.com\/en\/why-is-the-djia-so-popular-among-traders\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is the DJIA so popular among traders?"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is one of the oldest stock indices. Critics often accuse it of having a small number of titles, subjective evaluation in the selection of titles, or the construction and calculation method, but it is nevertheless one of the most popular instruments among traders. What is so interesting about it?<\/em><\/p>\n The Dow Jones Industrial Average is probably the best known stock index. It tracks the performance of 30 publicly traded companies in the US that are among the most important in their respective industries. Despite its many shortcomings, it is still one of the most followed indices today and is very popular among investors and traders.<\/p>\n The DJIA stock index was created on May 26, 1896 because its founders, Charles Henry Dow and Edward Davis Jones, considered the stock market to be the ideal barometer of the economy. Industry and railroads were the most influential factors in the economy, giving rise to the two oldest stock market indices, now called the Dow Jones Transportation Average and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.<\/p>\n The fact that the DJIA is still one of the most popular instruments among investors and traders today can be attributed to the fact that US equities have performed exceptionally well over the long term and the major indices are at long-term highs, despite the summer sell-off. This year, the DJIA index has already surpassed its all-time high 24 times, and in May it broke through the 40,000-point level for the first time in history (and in July 2024 it has already surpassed the 41,000-point mark).<\/p>\n Interesting fact:<\/em> However, the Dow Jones index itself has long been criticised by many investors and economists. The most frequent criticism is the number of titles in the index, the construction, the way the index is calculated or the decisions made about individual titles in the index. The DJIA index is generally regarded as a tool for bringing together the largest companies traded on US stock exchanges, but the reality is somewhat different. Since its inception, the composition of the index has been decided by people from the Wall Street Journal, but since 2012, the management of the index has been under S&P Dow Jones Indices, which is owned by S&P Global Inc. Thus, decisions on the composition of the index may not be sufficiently objective.<\/p>\n Many investors would like to see titles such as Nvidia, Facebook (Meta), Google (Alphabet) or Tesla in the index, but they will have a hard time being admitted to the index. Their share price may be a constraint to entry, and a second reason may be the relatively rapid growth of their shares, which would distort the value of the index quite significantly.<\/p>\n Another factor may be the fact that it is a relatively concentrated index with a small number of titles. This is another widely criticised drawback, which complicates its sectoral diversity. There are currently six technology titles in the index and inclusion of another company in this sector is therefore unlikely.<\/p>\n Interesting fact:<\/em> Due to the design and to maintain continuity, changes in the index do not occur very often. Since the index was created in 1896, there have been only 58 changes to the index composition. So far, the most recent company to be added to the DJIA is Amazon. It became part of the index on February 26, 2024, when it replaced Walgreens Boots Alliance.<\/p>\n Interesting fact:<\/em> The index saw the greatest number of changes in its first year of existence, when the index base changed four times in seven months. The other extreme is the period between 1939 and 1976, when the index also changed four times. The longest period without a change in the composition of the index was the interval between March 14, 1939 and July 3, 1956.<\/em><\/p>\n A major criticism is that, unlike most modern indices, it is a price-weighted index. This means that the value of the index and the weighting of individual titles in the index is not influenced by the size of the company or its impact on the economy, but by the share price.<\/p>\n
\nThe DJIA is thought to be the oldest stock index, but that’s not true. As early as July 3, 1884, the stock average first appeared on the Customers’ Afternoon Letter website, tracking the price performance of 11 stock titles, 9 of which were railroad companies. This index became the predecessor to the Dow Jones Railroad Average (renamed the Dow Jones Transportation Average in 1970).<\/em><\/p>\nEternal criticism<\/h2>\n
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\nAlthough the index has industrials in its name, companies in this sector now represent only 14% of the index’s sector allocation. All sectors except transportation and utilities are represented in the DJIA. The largest sectors (as of July 31, 2024) are Financials (23.4%), Healthcare (19%) and IT (18.8%).<\/em><\/p>\nChanges are not frequent<\/h2>\n
\nWalgreens Boots Alliance, by the way, replaced General Electric on June 26, 2018, which was the last company to be part of the original index and after two brief “breaks” had been part of the index continuously since 1907. The shortest duration company to be part of the DJIA index was Raytheon Technologies, which lasted less than 5 months (from April 6, 2020 to August 31, 2020).<\/em><\/p>\nImpact of share price<\/h2>\n