125 YEARS OF DOW JONES

26 May 1896. A landmark day for the financial world. 26 May 1896 is the date on which the Dow Jones index was launched, which included the shares of 12 companies listed on the American stock exchange and was calculated as the arithmetic mean of the prices of those shares. Its first value was 40.9 points. Today, Dow Jones includes 30 companies, including: Apple, Boeing, Coca Cola, Microsoft, Intel, IBM and has a value of over 34,000 points. The index was created by Charles Dow, the Editor in Chief of The Wall Street Journal, and his partner, statistician Edward Jones. Initially, the index, drafted about 12 years earlier, included 11 companies and was used only for private research.

The life of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (as it is called today) has been characterised by turmoil, influenced by financial crises, wars, political events and fluctuations of the oil market.

For example, during the Great Depression, the Dow Jones fell by 90% in less than four years. On 3 September 1929 it was at 381.17 points, and on 8 July 1932 it reached 41.2 points. It took 25 years for the Dow Jones to return to its highest level since September 1929.

Today, on 14 April 2021, the Dow Jones index exceeded for the first time in history 34,000 points, closing the trading session at 34,035.99 points.

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About the Financial Supervisory Authority

The Financial Supervisory Authority is the national authority, established in 2013 by GEO 93/2012 approved by Law 113/2013, for the regulation and supervision of the insurance markets, private pensions, as well as the capital market. The FSA contributes to strengthening the integrated functioning framework of the three sectors, amounting to over 10 million participants. More information can be found on www.asfromania.ro.