What is the name of the stock market index comprising 30 major U.S. companies?

The stock market index comprising 30 major U.S. companies is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, commonly called the Dow. It tracks a selected group of prominent companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges and is one of the world’s best-known market indicators.

The index began in 1896, created by journalists Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergстрesser. Despite its name, the Dow is not limited to industrial businesses today; its companies span technology, finance, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and other sectors.

A common mix-up is confusing the Dow with the S&P 500 or Nasdaq Composite. The S&P 500 represents roughly 500 large U.S. companies, while the Nasdaq Composite includes thousands of stocks listed on Nasdaq. Unlike those broad, market-capitalization-weighted indexes, the Dow is price-weighted, meaning higher share prices give companies greater influence regardless of their total size.