The Dow Jones Industrial Average..................

Just because you always wanted to know...................

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is the "most widely quoted equity index in the world. For decades, it has been considered a benchmark of the fortunes of America's economy."  Created in 1896 by Charles Dow and Edward Davis Jones, the original index contained twelve publicly traded companies  These twelve companies represented the major sectors of the stock market.  In theory, the performance of their stocks should provide an reliable guide to the trend of the overall performance of the stock market.  Only General Electric remains part of the DJIA.  Go here to discover the fate of the other eleven companies.  The original 12:

American Cotton Oil
American Sugar
American Tobacco
Chicago Gas
Distilling & Cattle Feeding 
General Electric
Laclede Gas
National Lead
North American
Tennessee Coal and Iron
U.S. Leather
U.S. Rubber

The DJIA was expanded to 20 publicly traded companies in 1916, and finally to 30 companies in 1926.   There has been considerable tinkering with the list over the years.  The current roster is here:

3M
American Express
A T & T
Boeing
Caterpillar
Chevron
Cisco
Coca-Cola
Disney
E I du Pont
Exxon Mobil
General Electric
Goldman Sachs
Home Depot
IBM
Intel
Johnson & Johnson
JPMorgan Chase
McDonald's
Merck
Mircrosoft
Nike
Pfitzer
Proctor & Gamble
Travelers Companies
United Technologies
United Health
Verizon
Visa
Wal-Mart
The next change to the line-up is scheduled for March 19th when Apple will replace A T &T.