[BenLurkin]

"Industrial" is a pretty broad term for the purpose of the DOW average.

The current DOW components are:

AA ALCOA INC
AXP AMER EXPRESS
BA BOEING CO
C CITIGROUP
CAT CATERPILLAR INC
DD DU PONT CO
DIS WALT DISNEY CO
EK EASTMAN KODAK
GE GENERAL ELEC CO
GM GENERAL MOTORS
HD HOME DEPOT INC
HON HONEYWELL INTL
HPQ HEWLETT-PACKARD
IBM INTL BUS MACHINE
INTC INTEL CORP
IP INTL PAPER CO
JNJ JOHNSON&JOHNSON
JPM JP MORGAN CHASE
KO COCA COLA CO
MCD MCDONALDS CORP
MMM 3M COMPANY
MO ALTRIA GROUP
MRK MERCK & CO
MSFT MICROSOFT CP
PG PROCTER & GAMBLE
SBC SBC COMMS
T AT&T CORP 19.57
UTX UNITED TECH CP
WMT WAL-MART STORES
XOM EXXON MOBIL

Citi Bank and JPM organ are financial companies, Walmart is a retailer, McDonalds is a fast food chain, etc.

[Alberta's Child]

I can understand why Wal-Mart and McDonald's are on the list. Because the DOW is supposed to be an indicator of industrial activity, these stocks serve as reasonable indicators of industrial activity even if they themselves aren't the ones who are doing the manufacturing. This is the same rationale for why railroads were major components of the DOW back in the 19th century.

The financial services companies are the ones I don't get -- isn't there a separate DOW index for financial services?