Business Channel 2007-02-04&05（在线收听） |
| The Dow Jones is the oldest running stock exchange in the United States looming large from Wall Street to your 401(K). Founded back in 1896, the Dow was set up to track America's big industrial companies. But these days, GE is the only component in the original Dow that's still around. That's because as the US economy is shifted over the decades, so has the Dow. Financial companies like Citigroup are staples of the modern Dow, so as tech giant IBM and drugmaker Pfizer. One downside in just following the Dow, higher priced stocks get more influence than lower priced stocks. Also some on Wall Street argue the Dow isn't as broad as the S&P 500 index which tracks the 500 biggest US companies. Still, analysts believe the Dow is useful when you combine it with the S&P and the tech heavy NASDAQ. And no matter which index you followed last year, chances are you did quite well, all three indexes finish the year at near or at double-digit gains. For Good Question, I'm Joe Bel Bruno, the Associated Press. Supplementary Information The 401(K) plan is a type of employer-sponsored retirement plan in the United States and some other countries, named after a section of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. A 401(k) plan allows a worker to save for retirement while deferring income taxes on the saved money and earnings until withdrawal. The employee elects to have a portion of his or her wage paid directly, or "deferred", into his or her 401(k) account. Many companies' 401(k) plans also offer the option to purchase the company's stock. The employee can generally re-allocate money among these investment choices at any time. (From Wikipedia) |
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