After a brief lull, Wall Street resumed its rally this week, moving into stocks expected to benefit from President Donald’s Trump expected policy measures, and on Wednesday put the Dow Jones Industrial Average above the historic 20,000 level for the first time.
Below is a list of facts about the index on its climb to the historic level:
1. The average was created by Charles Dow and launched in 1896. It was designed to cover all industries, with the exception of transportation and utilities.
2. At its inception, the Dow consisted of only 12 “smokestack” companies – suppliers of consumer goods and basic materials such as American Sugar and National Lead. It expanded to 20 components on Oct. 4, 1916. Since Oct. 1, 1928, it has comprised 30 U.S. “blue-chip” companies.
3 . General Electric (GE) is the only current component that was one of the original 12 in the index. The industrial conglomerate was removed twice, in 1898 and 1901, but returned to the index each time in subsequent changes.
4. Apple (AAPL) was the most recent addition to the index, replacing AT&T @(T) on March 19, 2015.
5. The most expensive stock currently in the price-weighted index is Goldman Sachs (GS) which recently traded at $235.21. GE, at $30.30, is the cheapest.
6. Apple is the largest company in the index, with a market capitalization of more than $638 billion. Travelers (TRV) is the smallest, at about $33 billion.
7. Since the index closed above the 19,000 mark, Goldman Sachs has contributed the most points to the index, with roughly 167. Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) has been the biggest drag, subtracting about 19 points.
Sources: S&P Dow Jones Indices, Thomson Reuters
