Dow Jones Industrial Average

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (, also called the DJIA, Dow 30, or informally the Dow Jones or The Dow) is one of several stock market indices created by nineteenth century Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow. Dow compiled the index as a way to gauge the performance of the industrial component of America's stock markets. It is the oldest continuing U.S. market index, aside from the Dow Jones Transportation Average, which Dow also created.
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Noun
1. an indicator of stock market prices; based on the share values of 30 blue-chip stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange; "the Dow Jones Industrial Average is the most widely cited indicator of how the stock market is doing"
(synonym) Dow Jones
(hypernym) stock index, stock market index

This is the best known U.S. index of stocks. It contains 30 stocks that trade on the New York Stock Exchange. The Dow, as it is called, is a barometer of how shares of the largest U.S. companies are performing. There are hundreds of investment indexes around the world for stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities. The Dow is a price-weighted average of 30 actively traded blue chip stocks, primarily industrials.