Instead, the total sum of the share prices of the companies on the list are divided by the Dow Divisor. This figure is meant to represent the impact of dividends, stock splits, and other specifics to the stocks included in the Dow. The 2008 stock market crash was more dramatic than any other downturn in U.S. history. This was less than the 90% drop during the Great Depression. It took almost four years for the market to bottom out at that time.
The chart below shows four of those closing records, as they increase by the thousand. That means companies with higher stock prices move the Dow more, even if they aren’t the largest by market value. The Dow’s new record above 45,600 in August 2025 comes from a mix of strong earnings, cooling inflation, and investor optimism about future Fed policy. The DJIA is a stock index that tracks 30 major U.S. companies, known as the “Dow 30.” It’s one of the best-known ways to measure the U.S. stock market. The Dow posted its all-time high during in December 2024, peaking at over 45,000 points.
How do you invest in the Dow Jones Industrial Average?
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is a stock market index that tracks 30 major public companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq.
- The Dow kept hitting record highs in late 2024, reaching over 45,000 in December of that year.
- Through much of 2022 and 2023, investors were cautious and bearish about equity markets as inflation rocketed.
- The index breached 26,000 on Jan. 17, then continued on to set 15 closing records in the rest of 2018.
- At the same time, the strength in the U.S. labor market meant extremely competitive wages driving consumer demand.
The previous day, May 15, 2024, the index had closed at 39,908 points, marking its highest closing value at that time. Stock market gains since the 2008 financial crisis were mediocre in volume. Only three days traded more than 200 million shares, a level similar to the late 1990s. The Dow was volatile in 2015 because it was based on just a few companies. Record-low interest rates allowed firms such as Apple and IBM to borrow billions to buy back shares.
What’s the highest the Dow has reached in a single day?
That correction was more than 16% lower than its all-time high set in May of the same year, putting the index into a correction but not a bear market. Investors worried that China’s yuan devaluation and the uncertainty over the Fed’s rate increase would push the index further downward. The index closed above 23,000 on Oct. 18, 2017; slightly more than a month later, it broke 24,000. The Dow had two streaks lasting more than 10 days, which had not occurred since 1959. The Dow responded with new highs throughout the latter part of 2019, even though trade negotiations had broken down until November. It hit a milestone on July 11, closing above 27,000, and then another on Nov. 15, closing above 28,000 (in the chart below, milestones are noted).
Today’s Dow includes stocks from a variety of sectors, including technology, finance, and consumer goods. The Dow Jones industrial average finished above 40,000 for the first time on Friday afternoon, doubling where the index hit shortly after Donald Trump became the 45th president. Despite these setbacks, the DJIA has shown remarkable resilience, bouncing back from downturns to reach new highs.
- The Senate reintroduced the bailout as the Troubled Asset Relief Program on Oct. 3.
- The S&P 500, Nasdaq, Nikkei, and DAX all set records in 2025 too, fueled by strong tech earnings and hopes of lower rates.
- The one before that came on the final trading day of 2021, when Dow closed at 36,488.63 on Dec. 29, 2021, smashing the record it set on Nov. 8, 2021.
- The Dow started 2022 with a flourish, breaking closing records in the first two trading days of the year.
📊 Major Dow Market Corrections and Recoveries
On that day, it closed at 7,286.27, a 37.8% decline from its peak. No one knew if a new bull market had begun until the Dow hit a higher low on March 11, 2003, closing at 7,524.06. The Dow suffered a market correction between August 2015 and April 19, 2016, leading to a 2016 downturn.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) just set a new record close of 45,631.74 on August 22, 2025. This beat the previous high of 45,014.04 from December 2024. These changes are not done often to ensure the index’s stability and continuity. The Dow also lost 26.5% during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. The Dow finally broke the 30,000 mark the following year. Uncertainty had been hanging over the markets because of the unprecedented refusal of the outgoing president, Donald Trump, to concede the election to President-elect Biden.
What Do the Points in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Mean?
The DJIA is a widely followed stock market index, tracking 30 major publicly owned U.S. blue-chip companies. Because the index is price-weighted, stocks with higher share prices have a greater impact on its movements, which is important for investors to understand when interpreting performance. Its composition has changed to reflect shifts in the economy and the relevance of leading companies, making it an evolving measure of market trends. It has a narrow focus on large-cap firms and lacks representation of smaller companies and certain sectors.
What are the Current Dow Jones Industrial Average Components?
The DJIA tracks the price movements of 30 large companies in the U.S.. The selected companies are from all major U.S. sectors, except utilities and Economia dólar eua bolsa de valores fed transportation. The Dow undergoes regular reevaluation, and non-compliant companies are replaced by those meeting the criteria. Over time, the index became a bellwether of the U.S. economy, reflecting economic changes.
This history of the Dow since the Great Depression demonstrates how stock market fluctuations reflect the natural stages of the business cycle. This was the Dow’s third consecutive trading day with a record close and the fourth record closing in just two months. The previous high was recorded just a day prior, when the index ended the trading day at 36,585.06. While short-term pullbacks are always possible, history shows the Dow has reached new highs after every major correction.
Recession of 1957
The Dow Divisor helps maintain its consistency by adjusting for stock splits and other structural changes. The Dow is also a price-weighted index instead of being weighted by market capitalization. This means that stocks in the index with higher share prices have greater influence, even if they are smaller companies overall in terms of market value. This also means that stock splits can impact the index, while they would not for a market cap-weighted index. The Dow set two milestones in 2014 and set 39 closing records. Share repurchases among the S&P 500 companies were 59% higher in the first quarter of 2014 than the first quarter in 2013.
Active traders can also benefit by using prop firm funding to trade market momentum. The highest Dow Jones Industrial Average close is 45,631.74, set on August 22, 2025. This surpassed the previous record of 45,014.04 from December 2024. The Dow’s all-time high reflects strong tech earnings, cooling inflation, and expectations of future Fed rate cuts. 👉 For active traders, record highs also bring opportunity. At MasterFunders, funded traders can test strategies in rising markets without risking personal savings, trading with firm capital instead of their own.
Previously, the Dow had fallen from 11,723 in January 2000 to 9,389 in March 2001, dropping 20% (from 20,520 to 16,434 points, inflation-adjusted). The bout of inflation that followed the COVID-19 pandemic led to another sharp sell-off in 2022. Between Jan. 7, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2022, the Dow declined about 21% from 36,231.66 to 28,725.51. Since the Great Depression, 2007 to 2008 has been the most dramatic period for the DJIA. The market fell more than 50% in just a year and a half because of subprime mortgage and credit crisis that kicked off the Great Recession. Perhaps the most infamous trough was during the Great Depression, in which the Dow lost about 90% of its value over three years.