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WHAT: A publishing/financial information firm

WHEN: founded 1882

WHO : Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser

Currently owned by the Bancroft family

PRODUCTS: Wall Street Journal

Smart Money

Our boy, the suave yet forgotten Charles Bergstresser

•The most widely held (most shares) public companies in US

•Purpose: to measure how the stocks are doing as a whole in an industry

•Allows market analysts to determine how the economy as a whole is doing

•Weighted average higher-priced stocks have more influence on average

Pros:

-Widely used

-Closely related to more diverse indexesCons:

-Contains only 65 companies; doesn’t represent the overall market

-The index is weighted by price of the company’s stock, not by size of the company

A stock market index that gauges the performances of 30 American industrial companies:

• 3M Co.

• ALCOA Inc.

• Altria Group, Inc.

• American International Group, Inc.

• American Express Co.

• Boeing Co., The

• Caterpillar, Inc.

• Citigroup, Inc.

• Coca-Cola Co.

• E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.

• Exxon Mobil Corp.

•General Electric Co.

• General Motors Corp.

•Hewlett-Packard Co.

• Home Depot, Inc.

• Honeywell International, Inc.

• Intel Corp.

• International Business Machines Corp.

• JPMorgan Chase and Co.

• Johnson & Johnson Inc.

•McDonald's Corp.

• Merck & Co., Inc.

• Microsoft Corp.

•Pfizer, Inc.

• Procter & Gamble Co.

• SBC Communications, Inc.

• United Technologies Corp.

•Verizon Communications

• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

•Walt Disney Co., The

The oldest stock market index, which gauges the performance of 20 companies:

• Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.

• AMR Corp.

• Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation

• C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.

• CNF, Inc.

• Continental Airlines, Inc.

• CSX Corp.

• Delta Air Lines, Inc.

• Expeditors International

•FedEx Corp.

•GATX Corp.

• JB Hunt Transport Services, Inc.

• Landstar System, Inc.

• Norfolk Southern Corp.

• Northwest Airlines Corp.

• Ryder System, Inc.

• Southwest Airlines, Inc.

• Union Pacific Corp.

• United Parcel Service, Inc.

• Yellow Roadway Corp.

A stock market index that gauges the performance of 15 companies:

• AES Corp., The

• American Electric Power Co., Inc.

• CenterPoint Energy, Inc.

• Consolidated Edison, Inc.

• Dominion Resources, Inc.

• Duke Energy Corp.

• Edison International

• Exelon Corp.

• FirstEnergy Corp.

• NiSource, Inc.

• PG&E Corp.

• Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc.

• Southern Company, Inc.

• TXU Corp.

• Williams Companies, Inc.

•A stock index that tracks 65 companies

•Well-balanced, looks at the performance of the broader stock market

•Average balance between Dow Jones Industrials, Transportation, and Utility companies

•However, not widely mentioned in financial circles

•S&P 500 - The S&P 500 is not comprised of simply the 500 largest U.S. stocks. Instead, it consists primarily of leading companies from a wide variety of different economic sectors.

•Wilshire 5000 - comprised of virtually every stock that meets three criteria:

1) The firm’s headquarters are based in the U.S.2) The stock is actively traded on a U.S. exchange.3) The stock has widely available pricing

information (this disqualifies bulletin board, or over-the-counter, stocks).

•S&P MidCap 400 Index - tracks a diverse basket of medium-sized U.S. firms

• S&P SmallCap 600 Index – tracks a diverse basket of small US firms

• Russell 3000 - comprised of the 3000 largest and most liquid stocks based and traded in the U.S

• Russell 1000 – contains the 1000 largest stocks in the Russell 3000 Index

• Russell 2000 – contains the 2000 smallest stocks in the Russell 3000 Index (based on market cap)

• Russell Crowe – not a stock index (but we like him anyway)

•The first sale of a company's common shares to public investors.

•The company will usually issue only primary shares, but may also sell secondary shares.

•The financial situation and prospects of a company must be disclosed to prospective investors.

•The legal procedures are all regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pros:

• Public companies can use their common stock to attract and retain good employees.

Cons:

• Perhaps the most expensive way to finance a company.

•Going public provides owners and founders an exit for selling their ownership holdings in the business.

•Public companies are worth more than private companies.

•Going public is one of the most difficult transactions.