Dow Jones Transportation Average

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA, also called the "Dow Jones Transports") is a U.S. stock market index from S&P Dow Jones Indices of the transportation sector, and is the most widely recognized gauge of the American transportation sector. It is the oldest stock index still in use, even older than its better-known relative, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA).[1]

Components
Dow Jones Transportation Average 1896–2012

The index is a running average of the stock prices of twenty transportation corporations, with each stock's price weighted to adjust for stock splits and other factors.[1] As a result, it can change at any time the markets are open. The figure mentioned in news reports is usually the figure derived from the prices at the close of the market for the day.

Changes in the index's composition are rare, and generally occur only after corporate acquisitions or other dramatic shifts in a component's core business. Should such an event require that one component be replaced, the entire index is reviewed.[2] As of November 12, 2016, the index consists of the following 20 companies:[2][3]

DJTA component companies, showing ticker symbols and transport sector
Company Ticker Sector
Alaska Air Group, Inc. ALK airlines
American Airlines Group Inc. AAL airlines
Avis Budget Group, Inc. CAR rental and leasing services
C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. CHRW trucking
CSX Corp. CSX railroads
Delta Air Lines DAL airlines
Expeditors International EXPD delivery services
FedEx Corporation FDX delivery services
JB Hunt Transport Services, Inc. JBHT trucking
JetBlue Airways Corp. JBLU airlines
Kansas City Southern KSU railroads
Kirby Corp. KEX marine transportation
Landstar System, Inc. LSTR trucking
Matson, Inc. MATX marine transportation
Norfolk Southern Corp. NSC railroads
Ryder System, Inc. R transportation services
Southwest Airlines, Inc. LUV airlines
Union Pacific Corporation UNP railroads
United Airlines Holdings UAL airlines
United Parcel Service, Inc. UPS delivery services

Alaska Air Group replaced AMR Corporation on December 2, 2011, after AMR corp. filed for bankruptcy protection. Effective October 30, 2012, Kirby Corp. replaced Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc.[4] Effective October 1, 2014, Avis Budget Group Inc. replaced GATX Corporation.[5] On October 15, 2015, American Airlines Group replaced Con-way.[6]

History

The average was created on July 3, 1884, by Charles Dow, co-founder of Dow Jones & Company, as part of the "Customer's Afternoon Letter". At its inception, it consisted of eleven transportation companies—nine railroads and two non-rail companies:

As a result of the dominating presence of railroads, the Transportation Average was often referred to as "rails" in financial discussions in the early and middle part of the 20th century.

Use in Dow theory

The Transportation Average is an important factor in Dow theory.

Price history

In 1964, the index first broke 200, slightly over where it was in 1929.

In 1983, the index first broke 500. In 1987, the index broke 1000. It closed at 2146.89 on March 9, 2009, having a low coincident with some other indices; this was a bit above its low of 1942.19 on March 11, 2003.

The index broke above the mid-5000s to begin a run of record highs on January 15, 2013, at a time when the better-known Industrials stood about 5% below all-time highs achieved more than five years earlier. By May, the Industrials and all other major indexes except the NASDAQ group were making all-time highs, including the Transports, which reached new closing and intraday records above the 6,500 level. On October 24, 2013, the Transports closed at 7,022.79, for its first close above 7,000 points. It closed the year at a record high of 7,400.57. On May 27, 2014, it first closed above 8,000 points.[7] The index closed above 9000 on November 10, 2014.[8] At the close of 2014, the index hit 9139.92. At the close of 2015, the index hit 7508.71, a loss of 17.85% on the year.

Annual returns

The following table shows the annual development of the Dow Jones Transportation Average, which was calculated back to 1924.[9]

End-of-year closing values for DJTA, sortable
Year Closing value Change in points Change in percent
1924 98.33
1925 112.9314.6014.85
1926 120.867.937.02
1927 140.3019.4416.08
1928 151.1410.847.73
1929 144.72−6.42−4.25
1930 96.58−48.14−33.26
1931 33.63−62.95−65.18
1932 25.90−7.73−22.99
1933 40.8014.9057.53
1934 36.44−4.36−10.69
1935 40.484.0411.09
1936 53.6313.1532.49
1937 29.46−24.17−45.07
1938 33.984.5215.34
1939 31.63−2.35−6.92
1940 28.13−3.50−11.07
1941 25.42−2.71−9.63
1942 27.391.977.75
1943 33.566.1722.53
1944 48.4014.8444.22
1945 62.8014.4029.75
1946 51.13−11.67−18.58
1947 52.481.352.64
1948 52.860.380.72
1949 52.76−0.10−0.19
1950 77.6424.8847.16
1951 81.704.065.23
1952 111.2729.5736.19
1953 94.03−17.24−15.49
1954 145.8651.8355.12
1955 163.2917.4311.95
1956 153.23−10.06−6.16
1957 96.96−56.27−36.72
1958 157.6560.6962.59
1959 154.05−3.60−2.28
1960 130.85−23.20−15.06
1961 143.8412.999.93
1962 141.04−2.80−1.95
1963 178.5437.5026.59
1964 205.3426.8015.01
1965 247.4842.1420.52
1966 202.97−44.51−17.99
1967 233.2430.2714.91
1968 271.6038.3616.45
1969 176.34−95.26−35.07
1970 171.52−4.82−2.73
1971 243.7272.2042.09
1972 227.17−16.55−6.79
1973 196.19−30.98−13.64
1974 143.44−52.75−26.89
1975 172.6529.2120.36
1976 237.0364.3837.29
1977 217.18−19.85−8.37
1978 206.56−10.62−4.89
1979 252.3945.8322.19
1980 398.10145.7157.73
1981 380.30−17.80−4.47
1982 448.3868.0817.90
1983 598.59150.2133.50
1984 558.13−40.46−6.76
1985 708.21150.0826.89
1986 807.1798.9613.97
1987 748.86−58.31−7.22
1988 969.84220.9829.51
1989 1,177.81207.9721.44
1990 910.23−267.58−22.72
1991 1,358.00447.7749.19
1992 1,449.2191.216.72
1993 1,762.32313.1121.61
1994 1,455.03−307.29−17.44
1995 1,981.00525.9736.15
1996 2,255.67274.6713.87
1997 3,256.501,000.8344.37
1998 3,149.31−107.19−3.29
1999 2,977.20−172.11−5.47
2000 2,946.60−30.60−1.03
2001 2,639.99−306.61−10.41
2002 2,309.96−330.03−12.50
2003 3,007.05697.0930.18
2004 3,798.05791.0026.30
2005 4,196.03397.9810.48
2006 4,560.20364.178.68
2007 4,570.5510.350.23
2008 3,537.15−1,033.40−22.61
2009 4,099.63562.4815.90
2010 5,106.751,007.1224.57
2011 5,019.69−87.06−1.70
2012 5,306.77287.085.72
2013 7,400.57 2,093.80 39.46
2014 9,139.92 1,739.35 23.50
2015 7,508.71 −1,631.21 −17.85
2016 9,043.90 1,535.19 20.45
2017 10,612.29 1,568.36 17.34
2018 9,170.40 −1,441.89 −13.59
2019 10,901.28 1,730.88 18.87
2020 12,506.93 1,605.65 14.73

Record values
Category All-time highs
Closing 12,875.66 Friday, January 8, 2021
Intraday 12,995.29 Friday, January 8, 2021

Investing

The index is tracked by an exchange-traded fund, iShares Transportation Average (NYSE Arca: IYT).[10]

See also

References
  1. "Dow Jones Transportation Average". Street Authority web site. Archived from the original on 2009-02-06. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
  2. "Dow Jones Transportation Average". official web site. Dow Jones & Company. Archived from the original on April 14, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
  3. Seeking Alpha, Dow Jones Transport Index at New Highs. May 19, 2008.
  4. "Dow Jones Indexes Press Room | Kirby Corp Set to Join the Dow Jones Transportation Average". S&P Dow Jones Indexes.
  5. "Avis Budget Group Set to Join the Dow Jones Transportation Average and American Water Works to Join the Dow Jones Utility Average" (PDF). www.spice-indices.com. September 23, 2014. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  6. "American Airlines Set to Join the Dow Jones Transportation Average". www.spice-indices.com. October 7, 2015. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
  7. S&P 500 falls shy of a record, breaks four days of gains
  8. "Stock Market News for November 11, 2014 - Market News - NASDAQ.com".
  9. "Dow Jones Transportation Average (^DJT) Historical Data - Yahoo Finance". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  10. "iShares page for iShares Transportation Average ETF".
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