More than a century after the creation of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, there’s a new Dow in town. Dow Jones Indexes launched yesterday the Global Dow, “a blue-chip representation of the world’s leading companies.”
The Global Dow includes 150 companies from around the world, including those “that are established global leaders as well as those poised for future global leadership.” Of these 150, 42 percent are American-based, with 10 percent in Japan and less than 10 percent from countries classified as “emerging markets.”
The largest three companies in the Global Dow, by market capitalization, are ExxonMobil, Proctor & Gamble, and General Electric. Other companies include stateside innovators like Google and eBay, and international players such as Russia’s Gazprom and Spain’s Banco Santander.
The new global index reflects a world economy that is more interdependent than ever. “In [founder] Charles Dow’s day, tracking the stock market was a domestic undertaking. Today, equity markets are global in scope and more intertwined than ever,” said John A. Prestbo, editor and executive director of Dow Jones Indexes.