what is the purpose of the dow jones industrial average
May 09, 2016. 1  The Dow Jones Industrial Average, or the Dow, is the oldest and most widely followed barometer of the U.S. stock market. 2  Charles Dow, the cofounder of Dow, Jones & Company, created the index in 1896 to track the prices of a dozen industrial stocks. To calculate the index, he simply added up the prices of the stocks and divided them by 12.