The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), also known as the Dow Jones or simply the Dow, is a stock market index that measures the performance of 30 large industrial companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most widely-followed equity indices, and its price movements are often seen as a barometer of the overall U.S. stock market.
To buy the Dow Jones index, you can either buy shares of the individual companies that make up the index, or you can buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the index. ETFs are investment funds that trade on stock exchanges, and they offer a way to invest in a basket of stocks with a single trade.