The Wall Street Journal has created a series of visualizations that show how the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a benchmark that measures the stock performances of 30 large public companies in the United States, has changed since it was launched in 1896. One visualization is a timeline showing which companies have made up the Dow and for how long. It shows that of the current 30 companies, consumer goods company Proctor and Gamble is the longest running company in the Dow, having first been included in the benchmark in the 1930s. The visualization also shows how the sectoral composition of the Dow has changed. While industrial stocks from the energy and materials sectors were once staples of the benchmark, today, companies from the information technology sector have the greatest representation, with 7 out of 30 stocks.
Visualizing Changes to the Benchmark for Stock Performance
