thumb|Dow Jones Transportation Average 2015-2025

The Dow Jones Transportation Average, (DJTA, also called the "Dow Jones Transports"), index ticker symbol DJT 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, being in use longer than its better-known relative, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA).

Components

thumb|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.

, the index consists of the following 20 companies:

{| class="wikitable sortable" border="1"

|+ DJTA component companies, showing ticker symbols and transport sector

|-

!scope="col"| Company

!scope="col"| Ticker

!scope="col"| Sector

|-

!scope="row"| Alaska Air Group

| ALK

| Airline

|-

!scope="row"| American Airlines Group

| AAL

| Airline

|-

!scope="row"| Avis Budget Group

| CAR

| Rental and Leasing Service

|-

!scope="row"| C.H. Robinson

| CHRW

| Trucking

|-

!scope="row"| CSX Corporation

| CSX

| Railroads and Real Estate

|-

!scope="row"| Delta Air Lines

| DAL

| Airline

|-

!scope="row"| Expeditors International

| EXPD

| Logistics and Freight

|-

!scope="row"| FedEx

| FDX

| Delivery Service

|-

!scope="row"| J.B. Hunt

| JBHT

| Transportation and Logistics

|-

!scope="row"| Kirby Corporation

| KEX

| Marine Transportation

|-

!scope="row"| Landstar System

| LSTR

| Transportation

|-

!scope="row"| Matson, Inc.

| MATX

| Marine Transportation

|-

!scope="row"| Norfolk Southern Corporation

| NSC

| Railroads

|-

!scope="row"| Old Dominion Freight Line

| ODFL

| Trucking

|-

!scope="row"| Ryder

| R

| Transportation and Logistics

|-

!scope="row"| Southwest Airlines

| LUV

| Airline

|-

!scope="row"| Uber

| UBER

| Transport

|-

!scope="row"| Union Pacific Corporation

| UNP

| Railroads

|-

!scope="row"| United Airlines Holdings

| UAL

| Airline

|-

!scope="row"| United Parcel Service

| UPS

| Delivery Service

|}

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.

Effective October 1, 2014, Avis Budget Group Inc. replaced GATX Corporation.

On October 15, 2015, American Airlines Group replaced Con-way.

Effective December 14, 2021, Old Dominion Freight Line replaced Kansas City Southern.

Effective February 26, 2024, Uber replaced JetBlue Airways. The index change was prompted by JetBlue’s low weight in the index of less than one-half of one percentage point caused by its low share price.

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:

  • Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway<!--sources say simply "St. Paul" - this is my best guess-->
  • Chicago and North Western Railway
  • Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
  • Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway<!--sources say simply "Lake Shore" but there was no major Lake Shore Railroad, and this was known as the Lake Shore, though it was part of the New York Central-->
  • Louisville and Nashville Railroad
  • Missouri Pacific Railway
  • New York Central Railroad
  • Northern Pacific Railroad preferred stock
  • Pacific Mail Steamship Company (not a railroad)
  • Union Pacific Railway
  • Western Union (not a railroad)

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.

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 indices 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. The index closed above 9000 on November 10, 2014. 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 price return of the Dow Jones Transportation Average, which was calculated back to 1924.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right;"

|+ End-of-year closing values for DJTA

!scope="col"| Year

!scope="col"| Closing value

!scope="col"| Change in points

!scope="col"| Change in percent

|-

!scope="row"| 1924

| 98.33 || ||

|-

!scope="row"| 1925

| 112.93 || 14.60 || 14.85

|-

!scope="row"| 1926

| 120.86 || 7.93 || 7.02

|-

!scope="row"| 1927

| 140.30 || 19.44 || 16.08

|-

!scope="row"| 1928

| 151.14 || 10.84 || 7.73

|-

!scope="row"| 1929

| 144.72 || −6.42 ||style="color:red"| −4.25

|-

!scope="row"| 1930

| 96.58 || −48.14 ||style="color:red"| −33.26

|-

!scope="row"| 1931

| 33.63 || −62.95 ||style="color:red"| −65.18

|-

!scope="row"| 1932

| 25.90 || −7.73 ||style="color:red"| −22.99

|-

!scope="row"| 1933

| 40.80 || 14.90 || 57.53

|-

!scope="row"| 1934

| 36.44 || −4.36 ||style="color:red"| −10.69

|-

!scope="row"| 1935

| 40.48 || 4.04 || 11.09

|-

!scope="row"| 1936

| 53.63 || 13.15 || 32.49

|-

!scope="row"| 1937

| 29.46 || −24.17 ||style="color:red"| −45.07

|-

!scope="row"| 1938

| 33.98 || 4.52 || 15.34

|-

!scope="row"| 1939

| 31.63 || −2.35 ||style="color:red"| −6.92

|-

!scope="row"| 1940

| 28.13 || −3.50 ||style="color:red"| −11.07

|-

!scope="row"| 1941

| 25.42 || −2.71 ||style="color:red"| −9.63

|-

!scope="row"| 1942

| 27.39 || 1.97 || 7.75

|-

!scope="row"| 1943

| 33.56 || 6.17 || 22.53

|-

!scope="row"| 1944

| 48.40 || 14.84 || 44.22

|-

!scope="row"| 1945

| 62.80 || 14.40 || 29.75

|-

!scope="row"| 1946

| 51.13 || −11.67 ||style="color:red"| −18.58

|-

!scope="row"| 1947

| 52.48 || 1.35 || 2.64

|-

!scope="row"| 1948

| 52.86 || 0.38 || 0.72

|-

!scope="row"| 1949

| 52.76 || −0.10 ||style="color:red"| −0.19

|-

!scope="row"| 1950

| 77.64 || 24.88 || 47.16

|-

!scope="row"| 1951

| 81.70 || 4.06 || 5.23

|-

!scope="row"| 1952

| 111.27 || 29.57 || 36.19

|-

!scope="row"| 1953

| 94.03 || −17.24 ||style="color:red"| −15.49

|-

!scope="row"| 1954

| 145.86 || 51.83 || 55.12

|-

!scope="row"| 1955

| 163.29 || 17.43 || 11.95

|-

!scope="row"| 1956

| 153.23 || −10.06 ||style="color:red"| −6.16

|-

!scope="row"| 1957

| 96.96 || −56.27 ||style="color:red"| −36.72

|-

!scope="row"| 1958

| 157.65 || 60.69 || 62.59

|-

!scope="row"| 1959

| 154.05 || −3.60 ||style="color:red"| −2.28

|-

!scope="row"| 1960

| 130.85 || −23.20 ||style="color:red"| −15.06

|-

!scope="row"| 1961

| 143.84 || 12.99 || 9.93

|-

!scope="row"| 1962

| 141.04 || −2.80 ||style="color:red"| −1.95

|-

!scope="row"| 1963

| 178.54 || 37.50 || 26.59

|-

!scope="row"| 1964

| 205.34 || 26.80 || 15.01

|-

!scope="row"| 1965

| 247.48 || 42.14 || 20.52

|-

!scope="row"| 1966

| 202.97 || −44.51 ||style="color:red"| −17.99

|-

!scope="row"| 1967

| 233.24 || 30.27 || 14.91

|-

!scope="row"| 1968

| 271.60 || 38.36 || 16.45

|-

!scope="row"| 1969

| 176.34 || −95.26 ||style="color:red"| −35.07

|-

!scope="row"| 1970

| 171.52 || −4.82 ||style="color:red"| −2.73

|-

!scope="row"| 1971

| 243.72 || 72.20 || 42.09

|-

!scope="row"| 1972

| 227.17 || −16.55 ||style="color:red"| −6.79

|-

!scope="row"| 1973

| 196.19 || −30.98 ||style="color:red"| −13.64

|-

!scope="row"| 1974

| 143.44 || −52.75 ||style="color:red"| −26.89

|-

!scope="row"| 1975

| 172.65 || 29.21 || 20.36

|-

!scope="row"| 1976

| 237.03 || 64.38 || 37.29

|-

!scope="row"| 1977

| 217.18 || −19.85 ||style="color:red"| −8.37

|-

!scope="row"| 1978

| 206.56 || −10.62 ||style="color:red"| −4.89

|-

!scope="row"| 1979

| 252.39 || 45.83 || 22.19

|-

!scope="row"| 1980

| 398.10 || 145.71 || 57.73

|-

!scope="row"| 1981

| 380.30 || −17.80 ||style="color:red"| −4.47

|-

!scope="row"| 1982

| 448.38 || 68.08 || 17.90

|-

!scope="row"| 1983

| 598.59 || 150.21 || 33.50

|-

!scope="row"| 1984

| 558.13 || −40.46 ||style="color:red"| −6.76

|-

!scope="row"| 1985

| 708.21 || 150.08 || 26.89

|-

!scope="row"| 1986

| 807.17 || 98.96 || 13.97

|-

!scope="row"| 1987

| 748.86 || −58.31 ||style="color:red"| −7.22

|-

!scope="row"| 1988

| 969.84 || 220.98 || 29.51

|-

!scope="row"| 1989

| 1,177.81 || 207.97 || 21.44

|-

!scope="row"| 1990

| 910.23 || −267.58 ||style="color:red"| −22.72

|-

!scope="row"| 1991

| 1,358.00 || 447.77 || 49.19

|-

!scope="row"| 1992

| 1,449.21 || 91.21 || 6.72

|-

!scope="row"| 1993

| 1,762.32 || 313.11 || 21.61

|-

!scope="row"| 1994

| 1,455.03 || −307.29 ||style="color:red"| −17.44

|-

!scope="row"| 1995

| 1,981.00 || 525.97 || 36.15

|-

!scope="row"| 1996

| 2,255.67 || 274.67 || 13.87

|-

!scope="row"| 1997

| 3,256.50 || 1,000.83 || 44.37

|-

!scope="row"| 1998

| 3,149.31 || −107.19 ||style="color:red"| −3.29

|-

!scope="row"| 1999

| 2,977.20 || −172.11 ||style="color:red"| −5.47

|-

!scope="row"| 2000

| 2,946.60 || −30.60 ||style="color:red"| −1.03

|-

!scope="row"| 2001

| 2,639.99 || −306.61 ||style="color:red"| −10.41

|-

!scope="row"| 2002

| 2,309.96 || −330.03 ||style="color:red"| −12.50

|-

!scope="row"| 2003

| 3,007.05 || 697.09 || 30.18

|-

!scope="row"| 2004

| 3,798.05 || 791.00 || 26.30

|-

!scope="row"| 2005

| 4,196.03 || 397.98 || 10.48

|-

!scope="row"| 2006

| 4,560.20 || 364.17 || 8.68

|-

!scope="row"| 2007

| 4,570.55 || 10.35 || 0.23

|-

!scope="row"| 2008

| 3,537.15 || −1,033.40 ||style="color:red"| −22.61

|-

!scope="row"| 2009

| 4,099.63 || 562.48 || 15.90

|-

!scope="row"| 2010

| 5,106.75 || 1,007.12 || 24.57

|-

!scope="row"| 2011

| 5,019.69 || −87.06 ||style="color:red"| −1.70

|-

!scope="row"| 2012

| 5,306.77 || 287.08 || 5.72

|-

!scope="row"| 2013

| 7,400.57

| 2,093.80

| 39.46

|-

!scope="row"| 2014

| 9,139.92

| 1,739.35

| 23.50

|-

!scope="row"| 2015

| 7,508.71

| −1,631.21

|style="color:red"| −17.85

|-

!scope="row"| 2016

| 9,043.90

| 1,535.19

| 20.45

|-

!scope="row"| 2017

| 10,612.29

| 1,568.36

| 17.34

|-

!scope="row"| 2018

| 9,170.40

| −1,441.89

|style="color:red"| −13.59

|-

!scope="row"| 2019

| 10,901.28

| 1,730.88

| 18.87

|-

!scope="row"| 2020

| 12,506.93

| 1,605.65

| 14.73

|-

!scope="row"| 2021

| 16,478.26

| 3,971.33

| 31.75

|-

!scope="row"| 2022

| 13,391.91

| −3,086.35

|style="color:red"| −18.73

|-

!scope="row"| 2023

| 15,898.85

| 2,506.94

| 18.72

|-

!scope="row"| 2024

| 15,895.75

| &minus;3.10

|style="color:red"| &minus;0.02

|}

Record values

{| class="wikitable"

!scope="col"| Category

!scope="col" colspan="2"| All-time highs

|-

!scope="row"| Closing

| 17,754.38

| Monday, November 25, 2024

|-

!scope="row"| Intraday

| 18,246.51

| Wednesday, November 2, 2021

|}

Investing

There is no fund that tracks this index. There are funds that have a similar behavior, such as iShares Transportation Average ETF ().

See also

  • Dow Jones Composite Average
  • Dow theory

References

  • Official Website
  • Dow Jones & Company website
  • Yahoo: Chart of DJTA performance (1928-present)
  • chart of DJT vs SPX from Yahoo! Finance