QUESTION
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gets the most attention from the mainstream press.
Large drops or increases in the average, or achieving numerical milestones, are often big news stories. So why do industry professionals and educated investors feel the Dow doesn’t accurately represent the market?
What will be an ideal response?
ANSWER
Answer: The Dow only indexes the average prices of stocks of 30 large corporations. Other indicators, such as the S&P 500, track hundreds or thousands of stocks.
Explanation: The Dow is an index of the average of prices of stocks for 30 large corporations; it offers a general measure of the movement of U.S. stock prices. By comparison, the Wilshire 5000 index tracks about 6,500 stocks.
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