STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 21 March 2012

[Demeter]

50. That's Absurd on its face

Goldman must be planning to dump all equities soonest.

In the long run, all those companies will have ceased to exist. The turnover in brand names is such that the DOW has few members that were on the index 20 years ago, let alone 50 or 100.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average currently consists of the following 30 major American companies:

Company Symbol Industry Year Added

3M MMM Conglomerate 1976 (as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing)

Alcoa AA Aluminum 1959- (as Aluminum Company of America)

American Express AXP Consumer finance 1982

AT&T T Telecommunication 1999 (as SBC Communications)

Bank of America BAC Banking 2008

Boeing BA Aerospace and defense 1987

Caterpillar CAT Construction and mining equipment 1991

Chevron Corporation CVX Oil & gas 2008

Cisco Systems CSCO Computer networking 2009

Coca-Cola KO Beverages 1987

DuPont DD Chemical industry 1935 (also 1924-01-22 to 1925-08-31)

ExxonMobil XOM Oil & gas 1928- (as Standard Oil of New Jersey)

General Electric GE Conglomerate 1907

Hewlett-Packard HPQ Technology 1997

The Home Depot HD Home improvement retailer 1999

Intel INTC Semiconductors 1999

IBM IBM Computers and technology 1979

Johnson & Johnson JNJ Pharmaceuticals 1997

JPMorgan Chase JPM Banking 1991 (as J.P. Morgan & Company)

Kraft Foods KFT Food processing 2008

McDonald's MCD Fast food 1985

Merck MRK Pharmaceuticals 1979

Microsoft MSFT Software 1999

Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals 2004

Procter & Gamble PG Consumer goods 1932

Travelers TRV Insurance 2009

United Technologies Corporation UTX Conglomerate 1939 (as United Aircraft)

Verizon Communications VZ Telecommunication 2004

Wal-Mart WMT Retail 1997

Walt Disney DIS Broadcasting and entertainment 1991


The components of the DJIA have changed 48 times in its 115 year history, and only General Electric remains in the index. As of 2011, General Electric has had the longest continuous presence on the index, with its latest addition being in 1907. When companies are replaced, the scale factor used to calculate the index is adjusted so that the value of the average remains the same.