What Psychological Impact does The DOW have on the US consumer?

Wow, how have times changed.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average, or The DOW as it is often referred to, made its debut on May 26, 1896.  Back then, it consisted of twelve little comapnies who would shape the industrial revolution of this country.  Twelve years before its debut, Mr. Dow published his index in the Customer's Afternoon Letter, which would later become known as the Wall Street Journal, which is still published today 6 times a week.  Of those twelve original companies, only General Electric still remains on the index.  When the index was first published, it stood at 40.94.

Over those 112 years, companies have been added and removed from the index to ensure that the largest and most widely held stocks were the DNA of the index.  For example:

• American Insurance Group (AIG) was added to the index on April 8, 2004 replacing AT&T.


• Bank of America, one of the US's largest financial institutions was added to the inndex on February 19, 2008 replacing Altria Group, Inc.


• Just 54 months later, narrowing escaping a collapse, Kraft Foods replaced AIG on the index on September 22, 2008.