Dow Jones | NYSE: DJI | Currency: USD | Type: Index
Key Statistics
About Dow Jones
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is one of the world's oldest stock indices, tracking 30 large, established US companies across industry, finance, healthcare and technology. Unlike most modern benchmarks it is price-weighted, meaning higher-priced shares carry more influence regardless of company size. First calculated in 1896, the Dow remains the number most often quoted in headlines about the US market, even though the S&P 500 covers a far broader slice of the economy.
Instrument Details
| Provider | S&P Dow Jones Indices |
| Ticker | DJI |
| Exchange / Market | NYSE |
| Instrument type | Index |
| Quote currency | USD |
History & Index Methodology
Dow Jones is calculated in real time from the prices of its constituent stocks, typically weighted by free-float market capitalisation so that larger, more liquid companies carry more influence. The constituent list is reviewed periodically by the index provider, with companies added or removed based on size, liquidity and listing criteria. Long-run index history lets analysts compare today's level against decades of market cycles.
Index maintained by: S&P Dow Jones Indices
Sector Weights (approximate)
| Financials | ~23% |
| Information Technology | ~20% |
| Health Care | ~15% |
| Consumer Discretionary | ~14% |
Approximate weights — constituents and weights are rebalanced periodically by the index provider.
Trading Hours
Dow Jones trades 07:00 PM to 01:30 AM IST (09:30 AM–04:00 PM US Eastern; one hour later during US winter), Monday to Friday. Outside those hours this page shows the last traded level, with change figures measured against the previous official close. All session times are expressed in Indian Standard Time (IST).
How to Read Dow Jones
Watch Dow Jones's level against its previous close for the day's direction, and against the 50-day and 200-day moving averages for the medium-term trend. A print near the top of the 52-week range with rising volume is often read as momentum by market participants, while repeated failures at the same level mark resistance. Breadth — how many constituents rise versus fall — shows whether a move is broad-based or driven by a few heavyweights.
52-week range: 44,579.031 – 54,744.328. Trailing 12-month change: 19.38%.
By Liveworldmarket Editorial Team · Last reviewed 17 August 2026
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) — A Practical Guide
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, almost universally referred to simply as 'the Dow', is one of the three benchmark indices that retail and institutional traders watch to gauge the health of US equities. Despite the name, it is no longer a purely industrial index — its current 30 constituents span technology (Microsoft, Apple, Salesforce, Cisco), healthcare (Johnson & Johnson, UnitedHealth, Merck), financials (JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, American Express), consumer (Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Walmart, Procter & Gamble), industrials (Caterpillar, Boeing, Honeywell), and energy (Chevron). The Dow is curated by a committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices rather than being formula-driven, which makes it the most subjectively selected of all major global benchmarks.
The Dow is also notoriously price-weighted: each constituent's weight in the index is proportional to its share price, not its market capitalisation. A high-priced stock like UnitedHealth or Goldman Sachs therefore exerts vastly more index influence than a much larger company with a lower share price like Verizon or Cisco. This is the same methodology used by the Nikkei 225 and stands in contrast to the cap-weighted S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. For traders, the practical takeaway is that single-stock earnings beats from high-priced Dow names can swing the index disproportionately.
History & contract origins
Charles Dow published the first Dow Jones Industrial Average on 26 May 1896. It started as a simple arithmetic average of 12 mostly industrial stocks (American Cotton Oil, American Sugar, U.S. Leather and others) divided by 12 to produce an initial level of 40.94. The composition expanded to 20 stocks in 1916, to 30 stocks in 1928, and has remained at 30 names ever since. Only one of the original 1896 components — General Electric — survived into the modern era, and GE itself was eventually replaced in 2018.
The index has weathered every major US market event: the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 (a -89% drawdown over three years), the Long Depression, World War II, the inflation shock of the 1970s, Black Monday in October 1987, the dot-com bust in 2000-2002, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008-09, the COVID-19 crash of March 2020 (when the Dow lost 38% in just 33 days), and the 2022 inflation/Fed-hike cycle. It crossed 1,000 for the first time in 1972, 10,000 in 1999, 20,000 in early 2017 and 30,000 in late 2020 — milestones that have themselves become market-folklore reference points.
Trading hours & session layout
The Dow's constituents trade on the NYSE and Nasdaq cash markets, and the index level is calculated continuously during US cash hours. In Indian Standard Time:
| Pre-market | 13:30 IST |
| NYSE / Nasdaq cash open | 19:00 IST (winter) / 20:00 IST (US daylight saving) |
| NYSE / Nasdaq cash close | 01:30 IST (winter) / 02:30 IST (DST) |
| After-hours trading | until 06:30 IST |
| Weekly close | Saturday 02:30 IST |
Holiday calendar (typical annual closures)
Listed below are the major scheduled closures for the underlying exchange. Exact dates shift year-to-year — always verify against the exchange's official calendar before holding overnight positions across a holiday boundary.
| Holiday | Typical date |
|---|---|
| New Year's Day | 1 January |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Third Monday of January |
| Presidents' Day | Third Monday of February |
| Good Friday | Variable — Friday before Easter Sunday |
| Memorial Day | Last Monday of May |
| Juneteenth | 19 June |
| Independence Day | 4 July |
| Labor Day | First Monday of September |
| Thanksgiving Day | Fourth Thursday of November |
| Black Friday (early close 18:00 IST) | Day after Thanksgiving |
| Christmas Eve (early close) | 24 December |
| Christmas Day | 25 December |
How to read this tape
Reading the Dow correctly requires three habits. First, always compare the Dow's daily move to the S&P 500 — when the Dow rises but the S&P falls, mega-cap blue-chip rotation is happening. Second, watch the highest-priced names (UnitedHealth around $500, Goldman Sachs around $400, Microsoft around $400 in early 2026); single-stock earnings from these names can move the Dow without any underlying broad-market signal. Third, remember the Dow is curated — when a company is added or removed (last major reshuffle in February 2024 when Amazon replaced Walgreens), the index level shifts by a calculation factor called the Dow Divisor.
On Liveworldmarket the Dow level is computed against the previous regular-session NYSE close, matching what Yahoo Finance and Bloomberg display. After-hours futures (YM E-mini) move the underlying constituents' implied opening price and feed into the next session's open print.
Frequently asked questions
How many stocks are in the Dow?
Thirty. The composition is reviewed by a committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices and changes only every few years, when a constituent no longer represents the US economy or is acquired/delisted.
Why is the Dow price-weighted instead of cap-weighted?
Historical convention. When Charles Dow created the index in 1896 there were no computers and a simple price average was the only practical methodology. Most modern global indices (S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite, FTSE 100, DAX, Nifty 50) are cap-weighted instead, which means a large-cap stock with a low share price exerts more influence — the opposite of the Dow.
Is the Dow still relevant given the rise of the S&P 500?
Yes, but mostly as a media benchmark and sentiment proxy. Most professional asset managers benchmark to the S&P 500 because it's broader, cap-weighted, and a cleaner macro signal. The Dow remains the headline number on TV and on broker apps, and its 30-stock concentration makes it more volatile in either direction.
What time does the Dow open and close in IST?
The underlying NYSE / Nasdaq cash session runs 19:00 - 01:30 IST during US winter (standard time) and 20:00 - 02:30 IST during US daylight saving (March to early November). After-hours trading extends until 06:30 IST.
Can Indian residents invest in Dow-tracking ETFs?
Yes, via the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) using a US-broker account, or domestically through India-listed ETFs that hold global indices. We are not a SEBI-registered adviser — please consult one before allocating.
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Editorial article. Information only — not investment advice. Read our Risk Disclaimer before acting on any market data shown here.