what factors affect dow 
the dow jones industrial average known as the dow is affected by the prices of the stocks that make up the index stock prices are affected by many factors the bottom linethe dow theory attempts to identify the primary trend a market is in it is comprised of three primary trends each made up of secondary and minor trends the theory assumes that the market already has knowledge of every possible factor and that prices reflect current information this implies that there is no need to investigate further why assets are priced the way they are but to act on price movements and volume and depend on signals and confirmation for trend reversals 