Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) Index forecast for 2022

The Dow Jones is a stock index invented over 100 years ago. It is called the “barometer” of the American economy, and it is used by investors around the world.

How is it calculated

The stock prices of all companies included in the index are added and divided by a coefficient. The resulting value is compared with the previous one: baseline or on the selected date. This is how we understand whether the market is growing or falling.

In 1928, the amount of shares was divided by the number of companies – 30, but due to multiple splittings and consolidations of shares, instead of the number of issuers, they began to use a coefficient. Suppose the issuer split the shares: the company’s capitalization remained the same, but the number of shares doubled. If we continue to divide the value of shares by 30, then the value of the index will decrease, although there is no fall in the market. Therefore, when calculating, the divisor is corrected – it is replaced by a coefficient.

The base value of the index as of May 26, 1896 was 40.94 points, as of January 3, 2019 – 22,686.22 points. The point is equal to the dollar. If the index is up or down by 60 points, it means that the stock in the set has gone up or down by $ 60.

What other Dow Jones indices are:

transport – Dow Jones Transportation Average;
utility – Dow Jones Utility Average;
general – Dow Jones Composite Average.

How to buy an index?

Separately by issuer. You can buy shares of the index companies separately in the same quantity, or choose the most promising, in the opinion of the investor, and purchase only them. For example, in the third quarter of 2018, the index lost more than 3,000 points, but McDonald’s shares during this period, on the contrary, rose by 7%.

As part of ETF. In order not to buy shares separately and save on commissions, you can buy ETFs on the index. The most famous is the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA). Investment firm ProShares offers five ETFs on the DJIA index: Ultra Dow 30 (DDM), UltraPro Dow 30 (UDOW), Short Dow 30 (DOG), UltraShort Dow 30 (DXD), Ultra ShortPro Dow 30 (SDOW) – and an additional ETF on sector.