I spent part of my afternoon writing the first of some possible weekly notes for my SMG teachers.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (see the latest issue of In the News) recovered to 11,011.90 on January 9th, the first time since 2001, but dropped back to 10,667.39. However, this week it hit 11,137.17 on February 22nd. In the News, the article The Dow Takes a Bow Then a Blow! has a graph that shows the level of the Dow from 1970 to the beginning of 2006. On down days it is reassuring to note that the long-term trend continues upward.
A Dow activity for your students:
Find the closing figure of the Dow on the day you were born. Click here In both the Start Date and the End Date (so you are not overwhelmed with data) enter the month, day, and year you were born, and click Get Prices.
OR:
If the above link does not work, click here In the left column, in the list of averages, click on Dow ----in the left column click Historical Quotes---in both the Start Date and the End Date, enter the month, day, and year you were born and click Get Prices.
How much has the Dow Industrial Average increased during your lifetime? How many points has it increased? What percentage has it increase since the day you were born. (hint: 2006 level minus the level the day you were born divided by the level the day you were born times 100)
For example, if you were born on February 20, 1982, the Dow has risen from 824.30 to 11,061.85. That is a 10,237.55 point increase. It is a 1,241% increase. The Dow has increased 1,242 percent since you were born. How much would $500 have increased since that time.
After you have become familiar with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and its 30 stocks from A to W or from Alcoa to WalMart (do not forget 3M) branch out to the S&P 500 with its 500 stocks.
