Amazon starts trading on the Dow Jones Industrial Average

S&P Dow Jones Indices, which manages the index, said last week that Walgreens Boots Alliance would be getting the boot from the 30-stock index. The change is intended to reflect “the evolving nature of the American economy” by increasing the Dow’s consumer retail exposure.

The change means that investors who bet on the Dow will now have exposure to Amazon’s stock performance.

Amazon joins Apple and Microsoft as the third company from the “Magnificent Seven,” a group of high-performing tech stocks, to join the Dow 30. The other four companies in the group — Meta, Nvidia, Tesla, and Alphabet — are not included in the index, though all seven stocks are included in the much larger S&P 500 index.

Historically, getting added to or dropped from the Dow hasn’t had a significant impact on a company’s stock performance. But presence in the index, which began in 1896, comes with a certain level of cachet. The exclusive group traditionally tries to mirror the most important companies in the US economy. That is why the index is so heavily dominated by technology stocks today.

Walgreens currently has the lowest stock price in the index, and is down 68% in the past five years.

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