why is it called us 30 or dow 30 
it is called the dow 30 because it was created by charles dow with edward jones and consists of 30 companies its full formal name is the dow jones industrial average the bottom linethe us 30 is arguably the most talked about stock index on the planet it s been around since 1896 and is comprised of america s finest largest and most invested in blue chip companies that makes it a hot topic of debate and according to many pundits a key barometer of the state of the overall stock market and economy the index which is also called the dow 30 or just the dow is different from many other leading indexes it is handpicked by a committee price weighted and calculated by adding up all the stock prices of its 30 components and dividing the sum by the dow divisor not everyone loves the dow jones industrial index but few can deny how influential it is 