The Dow Jones Industrial Average is first published
On this day · 26 May 1896
On May 26, 1896, Charles Dow published an average of 12 industrial stocks, creating Wall Street's most-watched market barometer.
On May 26, 1896, financial journalist Charles Dow published the first Dow Jones Industrial Average, a single number meant to capture the health of an entire economy. He added up the share prices of 12 industrial companies, divided, and arrived at an opening figure of 40.94 points.
The roster read like a tour of the Gilded Age: American Cotton Oil, American Sugar, American Tobacco, Chicago Gas, General Electric, US Leather, US Rubber, and more. Only one — General Electric — would still appear on the index decades later, and even it departed in 2018.
Dow, a co-founder of The Wall Street Journal, had already built a railroad average in 1884, but industry was eclipsing the railroads, and investors needed a clearer gauge.
The Dow’s first months were brutal: it sank to 28.48 that August during the Panic of 1896.
The index has since grown to 30 stocks and become the world’s most quoted measure of market sentiment, a 19th-century shorthand still flashing across screens today.
Sources & references
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