Dow Jones Transportation Average (original) (raw)

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Stock market index

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA, also called the "Dow Jones Transports") is a U.S. stock market index from S&P Dow Jones Indices of the transportation sector, and is the most widely recognized gauge of the American transportation sector. It is the oldest stock index still in use, being in use longer than its better-known relative, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA).[1]

Dow Jones Transportation Average 1896–2012

The index is a running average of the stock prices of twenty transportation corporations, with each stock's price weighted to adjust for stock splits and other factors.[1] As a result, it can change at any time the markets are open. The figure mentioned in news reports is usually the figure derived from the prices at the close of the market for the day.

Changes in the index's composition are rare, and generally occur only after corporate acquisitions or other dramatic shifts in a component's core business. Should such an event require that one component be replaced, the entire index is reviewed.[2]

As of February 26, 2024[update], the index consists of the following 20 companies:[2][3]

DJTA component companies, showing ticker symbols and transport sector

Alaska Air Group replaced AMR Corporation on December 2, 2011, after AMR corp. filed for bankruptcy protection.[5]

Effective October 30, 2012, Kirby Corp. replaced Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc.[6]

Effective October 1, 2014, Avis Budget Group Inc. replaced GATX Corporation.[7]

On October 15, 2015, American Airlines Group replaced Con-way.[8]

Effective December 14, 2021, Old Dominion Freight Line replaced Kansas City Southern.[9]

Effective February 26, 2024, Uber replaced JetBlue Airways. The index change was prompted by JetBlue’s low weight in the index of less than one-half of one percentage point caused by its low share price.[10]

The average was created on July 3, 1884, by Charles Dow, co-founder of Dow Jones & Company, as part of the "Customer's Afternoon Letter". At its inception, it consisted of eleven transportation companies—nine railroads and two non-rail companies:

• Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway
• Chicago and North Western Railway
• Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
• Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway
• Louisville and Nashville Railroad
• Missouri Pacific Railway
• New York Central Railroad
• Northern Pacific Railroad preferred stock
• Pacific Mail Steamship Company (not a railroad)
• Union Pacific Railway
• Western Union (not a railroad)

As a result of the dominating presence of railroads, the Transportation Average was often referred to as "rails" in financial discussions in the early and middle part of the 20th century.

The Transportation Average is an important factor in Dow theory.

In 1964, the index first broke 200, slightly over where it was in 1929.

In 1983, the index first broke 500. In 1987, the index broke 1000. It closed at 2146.89 on March 9, 2009, having a low coincident with some other indices; this was a bit above its low of 1942.19 on March 11, 2003.

The index broke above the mid-5000s to begin a run of record highs on January 15, 2013, at a time when the better-known Industrials stood about 5% below all-time highs achieved more than five years earlier. By May, the Industrials and all other major indexes except the NASDAQ group were making all-time highs, including the Transports, which reached new closing and intraday records above the 6,500 level. On October 24, 2013, the Transports closed at 7,022.79, for its first close above 7,000 points. It closed the year at a record high of 7,400.57. On May 27, 2014, it first closed above 8,000 points.[11] The index closed above 9000 on November 10, 2014.[12] At the close of 2014, the index hit 9139.92. At the close of 2015, the index hit 7508.71, a loss of 17.85% on the year.

The following table shows the price return of the Dow Jones Transportation Average, which was calculated back to 1924.[13]

End-of-year closing values for DJTA

There is no fund that tracks this index. There are funds that have a similar behavior, such as iShares Transportation Average ETF (NYSE Arca: IYT).[14]

• Dow Jones Composite Average
• Dow theory

1. ^ a b "Dow Jones Transportation Average". Street Authority web site. Archived from the original on 2009-02-06. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
2. ^ a b "Dow Jones Transportation Average". official web site. Dow Jones & Company. Archived from the original on April 14, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
3. ^ Seeking Alpha, Dow Jones Transport Index at New Highs. May 19, 2008.
4. ^ Basu, Debapriya (16 September 2024). "Dow Jones Transportation Average Companies". IndMoney. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
5. ^ "AMR Corporation", Wikipedia, 2024-08-16, retrieved 2024-09-15
6. ^ "Dow Jones Indexes Press Room | Kirby Corp Set to Join the Dow Jones Transportation Average". S&P Dow Jones Indexes. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-08-30.
7. ^ "Avis Budget Group Set to Join the Dow Jones Transportation Average and American Water Works to Join the Dow Jones Utility Average" (PDF). www.spice-indices.com. September 23, 2014. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
8. ^ "American Airlines Set to Join the Dow Jones Transportation Average". www.spice-indices.com. October 7, 2015. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
9. ^ "Old Dominion Freight Line Set to Join Dow Jones Transportation Average" (PDF). S&P Dow Jones Indices. December 7, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
10. ^ "Amazon.com Set to Join Dow Jones Industrial Average; Uber to Join Dow Jones Transportation Average" (PDF). S&P Dow Jones Indices. February 20, 2024. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
11. ^ S&P 500 falls shy of a record, breaks four days of gains
12. ^ "Stock Market News for November 11, 2014 - Market News - NASDAQ.com".
13. ^ "Dow Jones Transportation Average (^DJT) Historical Data - Yahoo Finance". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
14. ^ "iShares page for iShares Transportation Average ETF".

• Official Website
• Business data for Dow Jones Transportation Average:
  • Bloomberg
  • Google
  • Yahoo!
• Dow Jones & Company website
• Yahoo: Chart of DJTA performance (1928-present)
• chart of DJT vs SPX from Yahoo! Finance