Dow and Jones came up with their own index

105 years ago, October 26, 1896,
The now most famous Dow Jones index was introduced into the US stock market.
“Two American journalists, Charles Dow and Edward Jones, founded the Wall Street Journal stock market newspaper in New York,” Sergei Malkov, an employee of the Institute for Market Expertise and Investment Promotion, told Interlocutor. — So that its readers could learn in a timely manner about what is happening on the American stock market, journalists came up with an indicator, which was called the Dow Jones Index.
They selected 12 of the largest industrial companies at that time and began to add up the exchange price of their shares every day at the end of trading, and divide the sum by 12. The result was a figure, changes in which made it possible to judge financial trends in the United States.
“If the Dow Jones index rose, it means that the stock prices of the largest companies grew, and with them the quotations of securities of other enterprises,” continues Sergei Malkov. “This meant that the economy was booming, company profits were growing and investors were willing to invest money in their shares. If the index decreased, then this was an alarm signal.
Today, the Dow Jones index covers the shares of not 12, but 30 of the largest US companies, the so-called “blue chips”. They account for about 20 percent of the market value of all American stocks—$8 trillion. and about 25 percent of the value of shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
“Unfortunately, Russia does not yet have its own stock index,” Oleg Pleshakov, manager of the Russian Exchange, told Interlocutor. “Perhaps it will appear in a year and a half, unless our economy is hit by another crisis.”
Alexander Levin.