The Dow Jones' 5 Most Important Stocks

There's simply not a stock market index on the planet that has more history behind it than the iconic Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI). The Dow has been a mainstay on Wall Street for more than 124 years, and today houses 30 well-known, time-tested U.S. multinational companies. Whereas other major indexes, such as the broad-based S&P 500, are weighted by market cap (i.e., larger companies exert more weight within the index), the Dow Jones is a price-weighted index.