Q about reporting the Dow's performance

[Orrex]

In a couple of news sources, most notably NPR, I've noticed over the past few weeks that they often don't give the Dow's actual closing numbers. They'll say "the Dow finished up 82 points" or "the Dow closed down 111," but they don't reveal what the ending total is.

Is this just a matter of course, or do they tend to keep hush-hush about it when the closing numbers might seem unacceptably negative? It wouldn't seem to take too much effort to include both the ending total and the net amount of movement for the day, after all.

Has this always been the case? If not, how long has this practice been the standard?

[ThomWV]

1. I don't think they're trying to hide anything

The number is easy to find, its on many Home Pages actually. Its just how you look at the number. My wife only sees it as the whole number, 12,000 or whatever it is now. I only care about the movment, so when they say it was down 100 that has meaning for me. Just depends on how you like your eggs cooked I guess.

[Orrex]

3. Makes sense, but...

I have worked in financial services, where part of my job was to take calls from people wanting to know the value of a given fund on a given day.

We were to answer in the format of "the NAV is X, down Y-dollars from yesterday's value of Z."


I guess that the Dow-reporting caught my ear just because they sometimes give both measures and sometimes give just one or the other.


But you're probably right; it's likely not an effort to conceal anything.


Thanks!

[Dreamer Tatum]

2. The actual closing numbers are among the most publicized numbers in the world

The fact that it was down or up is the news...no one other than options traders really cares about the actual DJIA average.

[Orrex]

5. True, of course, but

When you're (at a given moment) getting your news from a limited source (such as radio), then it would seem helpful to get both measures in one swoop.

[high density]

4. Reporting "points" is a joke and the Dow is a bad index

They need to talk in percentages, which make infinitely more sense than "point" swings. This seems to be an American thing. Most international media seems to focus properly on percentages. Then we have this insane focus on the Dow, which is only made up of 30 companies. The S&P 500 is a much broader indicator.

[Orrex]

7. Good points (so to speak)

The day's up or down doesn't mean a whole lot unless you know how big the blip is relative to the overall total.

And I likewise agree that the Dow is a foolish yardstick to use.

[kentuck]

6. They have learned how to manipulate the numbers...

to make them look somewhat better than they really are.

[Dreamer Tatum]

8. Um, what?

Who is "they?" The DJIA is a fact; you can compute it yourself every single day if you like. You can argue that it doesn't
show the whole market picture, but in no way are the numbers "manipulated." A commonly reported stat given alongside the DJIA
is the ratio of advancing and declining issues...that gives a better idea of what's going on.

[Orrex]

9. I took it to mean that the manner of reporting of the numbers is the manipulation

That is, the objective numbers are presented in this or that format to emphasize either the positive or the negative change.


Not that the DJIA itself is manipulated.