Many people may not realize that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is made up of only 30 large companies.
So, I decided to list those 30 and show how their stocks performed in 2008, as part of an effort to try and understand what is happening to our economy.
The worst performers (no surprise here) were GM and CitiBank, both surviving currently courtesy of government bailout funds.
But 26 others companies on the DJIA also had very bad years. The only two companies to finish in the black last year were McDonald's and WalMart.
I will not even venture to suggest what that may say about our capitalist society, because I'm quite sure you are perfectly capable of drawing your own conclusions.
Below is the percentage performance for the 30 current
companies of the DJIA index for 2008, in ascending order (worst to best).
Company Pct change
General Motors Corp (GM.N) -87.1
Citigroup Inc (C.N) -77.2
Alcoa Inc (AA.N) -69.2
Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) -65.9
American Express Co (AXP.N) -64.3
General Electric Co (GE.N) -56.3
The Boeing Co (BA.N) -51.2
Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) -47.7
Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) -45.4
Intel Corp (INTC.O) -45.0
Du Pont (DD.N) -42.6
Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) -38.4
3M Company (MMM.N) -31.8
AT&T Inc (T.N) -31.4
United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) -30.0
The Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) -29.7
Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) -28.1
JPMorgan Chase and Co (JPM.N) -27.8
The Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) -26.2
International Business Machines (IBM.N) -22.2
Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) -22.1
Verizon Communications (VZ.N) -22.1
Chevron Corp (CVX.N) -20.7
Kraft Foods Inc (KFT.N) -17.7
Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N) -15.8
Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) -14.8
Home Depot Inc (HD.N) -14.6
Johnson and Johnson (JNJ.N) -10.3
McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) + 5.6
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) +18.0
1 comment:
Our capitalist society is a marvel. When the cost of living experiences a dramatic increase, ala crushing energy prices, people find their way to those bastions of free enterprise offering some relief to their over taxed pocket books. Suddenly Walmart groceries make a whole lot of sense. So does McDonalds' “dollar menu”.
Having worked in a Walmart for 3 years, and 6 months in a McDonalds, I can tell you with some authority that providing lower prices in those two highly competitive industries is not easy. Neither of these outfits tolerate much slack. Consequently, every day, millions of Americans enjoy the result of hard charging competition, innovation, and good old fashioned elbow grease.
And for those who believe these industries are abusive or “unfair”, let me offer some insight; in my decades of work in union shops of the highest paid employees on the planet, I never witnessed as much laughter, never saw the level of pride, never experienced such personal generosity or sacrifice to fellow wage earners and the community at large. To the contrary, I found profoundly higher levels of drug and alcohol abuse, violence, and cold cynicism.
If mention of the names “Walmart” or “McDonalds” brings a disdainful wrinkle to your brow, I suggest you revisit the paradigms clouding your judgment. In the real world these, and many other successful capitalist ventures of their ilk, have added much to the richness of this American fabric. They do well, in part, because they inspire more productivity and far less whining.
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