Dow Jones Industrial Average Exchange rate

DOW JONES or DJIA

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), also called “Dow Jones” or “the Dow” is a price-weighted average of 30 significant stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), approximately two-thirds of which are represented by companies producing industrial and consumer goods. “Price-weighted” means that each company is assigned a weighting based on its stock price. It was created by The Wall Street Journal editor Charles Dow in 1896.

If the DJIA rises by 10 points comparing to yesterday, it means that the cost of purchasing the 30 stocks in the index today is $10 higher than purchasing those same 30 stocks yesterday, taking into account stock splits and dividends.

Over time, the DJIA can be used as a benchmark for the economy

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HISTORIC HIGHS AND LOWS FOR DOW JONES

• All-time records: Max: 29368 on 13/02/2020 - Min: 35.32 on 27/07/1970
• Last 5 years: Max: 29368 on 13/02/2020 - Min: 17282 on 21/08/2015

* Data as of February 2020

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ASSETS THAT INFLUENCE THE DOW JONES THE MOST

• Currencies: Oil.
• Commodities: USD, EUR and JPY.
• Bonds: T-Bond (Treasury bond is a marketable, fixed-interest U.S. government debt security).
• Indices: S&P500 (American stock market index based on the market capitalizations of 500 large companies having common stock listed on the NYSE), NASDAQ (benchmark index for U.S. technology stocks), WTI (West Texas Intermediate is a grade of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing, the underlying commodity of NYMEX's oil futures contracts) and RUSSELL 2000 (the most common benchmark for mutual funds that identify themselves as "small-cap").

ORGANIZATIONS, PEOPLE AND ECONOMIC DATA THAT INFLUENCE THE DOW

Since the Dow Jones is a benchmark of American stocks, what will impact its value is related to all those decisions and figures that affect the results of big companies in the United States of America. That is, among others:

• Economic indicators of inflation (CPI, PPI,...), consumer confidence (as Michigan Consumer Confidence Index), growth (GDP), employment (Non Farm Payrolls) and salaries (Average Hourly Wages). An economic indicator is a statistic about an economic activity. Economic indicators allow analysis of economic performance and predictions of future performance.
• interest rates decided by the Federal Reserve System (Fed) which is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of financial panics led to the desire for central control of the monetary system in order to alleviate financial crises. Jerome Powell is the 16th Chair of the Fed.
• Fiscal policy, trade deals, business laws decided by the US administration (Joe Biden, the 46th and current president of the United States, assuming office on January 21, 2021), but also by the US Treasury Department (Janet Yellen, serving as the United States Secretary of the Treasury as part of the Cabinet of Joe Biden) and the US Department of Commerce which is an executive department of the federal government concerned with promoting economic growth (Wynn Coggins, United States Secretary of Commerce).
• Energy prices (electricity, oil,...), because they have impact on production costs for those companies. A fixed-rate tariff sets the cost of energy for a certain amount of time, while prices on a variable tariff can go up or down according to the market. The price of energy depends on a range of different supply and demand conditions, including the geopolitical situation, the national energy mix, import diversification, network costs, environmental protection costs, etc...