Dow Jones Average by Year

The Dow Average is the average of 30 companies selected to “represent” the US economy. It is the measure we continue to be asked to panic over, even though we actually probably invest in the S&P 500.

In 1915, only wealthy investors and compulsive savers bought stocks. In 1925, somebody started a fad and everybody with extra cash bought stocks and created a “bubble”. The bubble tripled stock values by 1929 and corrected back in 1930, corrected back again in 1931 and crashed in 1932. At the same time, the Dust Bowl drought hit US agriculture and families lost farms. Banks failed.

In 1952, the Dow recovered to reach the 300 level where it peaked in 1929. It continued to build to the 600 to 800 levels through the 1960s and 1970s.  It jumped to 1100 in 1983 and employees were enrolled in 401k Plans. This allowed it to advance to 10000 by 1999.  

In 2008 the Mortgage Meltdown resulted in a stock market crash that took the Dow from 11000 to 8800 in 2009. The Federal Reserve provided banks with $4 trillion to recover and the Dow rose back to 11000 by 2010. Day-Traders borrowed money from the banks and bought stocks and moved the Dow to 18000 by 2016.

Trump was elected in 2016 and stocks rose from 18000 to 21000 in 2017 and 25000 by 2018.

Dow Jones Closing Average by Year

1915 74.45

1916 95.27

1917 87.87

1918 80.97

1919 99.79

1920 90.01

1921 73.39

1922 93.24

1923 94.87

1924 99.65

1925 134.40 Bubble

1926 153.00

1927 176.07

1928 226.17

1929 313.54 Correction

1930 236.04

1931 138.60

1932 64.53   Crash

1933 84.50

1934 98.16

1935 120.35 Roosevelt

1936 162.07

1937 166.45

1938 132.36

1939 142.57

1940 134.64

1941 121.93

1942 107.15

1943 134.92

1944 143.32

1945 169.66 Truman

1946 191.52

1947 177.48

1948 179.78

1949 179.67

1950 216.28

1951 257.41

1952 270.35 Eisenhower

1953 275.84

1954 334.34

1955 442.69

1956 493.21

1957 476.07

1958 491.26

1959 632.57

1960 618.02 Kennedy

1961 691.74

1962 639.14

1963 714.69

1964 834.09 Johnson

1965 910.70

1966 872.78

1967 879.48

1968 903.96 Nixon

1969 875.72

1970 753.12

1971 884.87

1972 950.08

1973 759.13

1974 759.13

1975 802.89 Ford

1976 975.20

1977 894.37 Carter

1978 821.13

1979 844.38

1980 891.14 Reagan

1981 932.95

1982 884.53

1983 1190.78

1984 1178.59

1985 1327.99

1986 1793.10

1987 2277.53

1988 2061.48 Bush I

1989 2510.33

1990 2679.45

1991 2929.04

1992 3284.08

1993 3524.92 Clinton

1994 3794.22

1995 4494.28

1996 5739.63

1997 7447.01

1998 8630.76

1999 10481.66

2000 10729.38 Bush II

2001 10199.29

2002 9214.85

2003 9006.64

2004 10315.51

2005 10546.66

2006 11409.78

2007 13187.26

2008 11244.06 Obama

2009 8885.65 (Meltdown)

2010 10668.58 (QE)

2011 11957.57

2012 12966.44

2013 15009.52

2014 16777.69

2015 17587.03

2016 17927.11

2017 21750.20 Trump

2018 25046.86

2019 25524.85

https://www.macrotrends.net/1319/dow-jones-100-year-historical-chart

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader