FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (/ˈdaʊ/), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States.

The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity indices. Many professionals consider it to be an inadequate representation of the overall U.S. stock market compared to a broader market index such as the S&P 500. The DJIA includes only 30 large companies. It is price-weighted, unlike stock indices which use market capitalization. Furthermore, the DJIA does not use a weighted arithmetic mean.

The value of the index can also be calculated as the sum of the stock prices of the companies included in the index, divided by a factor which is currently (as of November 2021) approximately 0.152. The factor is changed whenever a constituent company undergoes a stock split so that the value of the index is unaffected by the stock split.

First calculated on May 26, 1896, the index is the second-oldest among U.S. market indices, after the Dow Jones Transportation Average. It was created by Charles Dow, the editor of The Wall Street Journal and the co-founder of Dow Jones & Company, and named after him and his business associate, statistician Edward Jones. The word industrial in the name of the index initially emphasized the heavy industry sector, but over time stocks from many other types of companies have been added to the DJIA.

The index is maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices, an entity majority-owned by S&P Global. Its components are selected by a committee. The ten components with the largest dividend yields are commonly referred to as the Dogs of the Dow. As with all stock prices, the prices of the constituent stocks and consequently the value of the index itself are affected by the performance of the respective companies as well as macroeconomic factors.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

When should I harvest my pumpkins?

Anytime before the first hard frost. A variety called hard-shelled maximas can handle light frost, but all others should be harvested before the temperature drops to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. As harvest time approaches, pinch out plant leaders and flowers, and remove small green pumpkins that have no chance of ripening. This will help the remaining pumpkins along.

Advice of the Day

The tongue is the rudder of our ship.

Home Hint of the Day

After removing old tiles, always scrape off any dried remnants of adhesive left on the subfloor. Make sure all loose material is removed before new tiles are laid.

Word of the Day

Equinox

When the Sun crosses the celestial equator. This occurs two times each year: Vernal around March 21 and Autumnal around September 23.

Puzzle of the Day

You may travel abroad in a carriage whose name read backward or forward is always the same.

Gig (a light, two-wheeled sprung cart pulled by a single horse)

Died

• Jonathan Swift (author) – 1745
• Leo Clarke (Victoria Cross recipient) – 1916
• Edna St. Vincent Millay (poet) – 1950
• Richard Blackwell (fashion designer & critic known simply as Mr. Blackwell”“) – 2008
• Tom Bosley (actor) – 2010

Born

• Martha Jefferson (wife of Thomas Jefferson; died before presidency) – 1748
• Cassius Marcellus Clay (abolitionist) – 1810
• Alice McLellan Birney (child welfare worker; the work by her and others led to the formation of the PTA) – 1858
• Eddie Bauer (merchant) – 1899
• Jack Anderson (journalist) – 1922
• John Le Carre (author) – 1931
• Robert Reed (actor) – 1932
• Peter Max (artist) – 1937
• John Lithgow (actor) – 1945
• Giorgio Cavazzano (comic strip artist & illustrator) – 1947
• Jennifer Holliday (singer) – 1960
• Evander Holyfield (boxer) – 1962
• Ty Pennington (carpenter; host of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition) – 1965
• Brad Daugherty (basketball player) – 1965
• Jon Favreau (actor, writer, & director) – 1966
• Chris Kattan (actor) – 1970
• Keith Foulke (baseball player) – 1972

Events

• Major General Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, effectively ending the American Revolutionary War– 1781
• President Abraham Lincoln wrote to an 11-year-old girl who requested that he grow a beard– 1860
• First wedding to take place in balloon occurred, over Cincinnati, Ohio– 1874
• Government autos were first used to deliver U.S. mail– 1914
• Watertown Senior High School, in South Dakota, was the first school to fingerprint students– 1936
• Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, was first isolated by researchers at Rutgers University– 1943
• Queen Elizabeth II went to a U.S. football game– 1957
• The Miracle Worker, a dramatization of Helen Keller’s early life, opens on Broadway– 1959
• U.S. auto executive, John DeLorean, was charged with the crime of selling cocaine to undercover police– 1982
• The first Blockbuster Video store opened in Dallas, Texas– 1985
• Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22% on what has become known as Black Monday”“– 1987
• Mother Teresa was beatified by Pope John Paul II– 2003
• In Indiana, a family’s pet Amazon parrot saved their lives by mimicking the sound of a fire alarm to alert them their house was on fire– 2007
• An earthquake measuring 2.5 hit Littleton, Massachusetts– 2007
• The Tampa Bay Rays won the American League Championship Series for the first time in franchise history– 2008
• First object (‘Oumuamua) from another solar system detected in ours– 2017

Weather

• A hurricane that blew for five hours swept Great Lakes waters into Buffalo, drowning 200 people– 1844
• Hurricane Wilma made history by dropping pressure to 882 millibars– 2005

COURTESY www.almanac.com