Which company deserves the most credit for the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s run to a milestone at 27,000 since last posting a finish at or above a round-number milestone at 26,000 back on Jan. 17? Visa Inc. V, +0.41%
The credit-card giant has rung up rich gains over the past 17 months, contributing some 390 points to the price-weighted Dow DJIA, +0.59% while Microsoft Corp. MSFT, +0.22% has added about 324 points to the blue-chip gauge, according to Dow Jones Market Data during that period.
Shares of Visa have climbed about 48% since mid January of 2018, rising to $180.47 a share from $121.98. As opposed to the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.03% and the market-capitalization weighted Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.19% each dollar move in any one of the Dow’s 30 components equates to a 6.8-point swing in the 123-year-old, price-weighted benchmark. Microsoft shares have jumped by more than 54%, trading at $138.94 from $90.14 a share at the close of trading Jan. 17.
Meanwhile, the biggest drags on the Dow have been industrial giants, with 3M Co. exacting a 564-point toll on the index over the period, and Caterpillar Inc.’s shares dragging its down by 247 points.
Here’s a complete list of the contributors to the Dow’s relatively lengthy jaunt from 26,000 to 27,000, according to Dow Jones Market Data (the list includes 32 constituents accounting for a split up of DowDuPont Inc. and Walgreens replacing General Electric as a component:
| Dow component performance since Jan. 17, 2018 | Total point contribution (as of midday trade July 11) |
| Visa Inc. V, +0.41% | 390 points |
| Microsoft Corp. MSFT, +0.22% | 324 |
| McDonald’s Corp. MCD, -0.42% | 256 |
| Walt Disney Co. DIS, +0.55% | 213 |
| American Express Co. AXP, +0.26% | 176 |
| Apple Inc. AAPL, -0.42% | 164 |
| Nike Inc. NKE, +0.69% | 161 |
| Merck & Co. Inc. MRK, -5.06% | 154 |
| Procter & Gamble Co. PG, -0.10% | 151 |
| Travelers Cos. Inc. TRV, -1.19% | 110 |
| Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO, +0.06% | 108 |
| Home Depot Inc. HD, +1.12% | 74 |
| Walmart Inc. WMT, +0.43% | 68 |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH, +5.11% | 63 |
| Pfizer Inc. PFE, -2.55% | 47 |
| Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, -0.25% | 36 |
| Coca-Cola Co. KO, +0.17% | 34 |
| Intel Corp. INTC, +0.60% | 27 |
| Boeing Co. BA, +1.30% | 7 |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, +1.07% | -0.64 |
| United Technologies Corp. UTX, +0.41% | -28 |
| General Electric Co. GE, -0.64% | -30 |
| Dow Inc. DOW, +0.79% | -40 |
| Johnson & Johnson JNJ, -1.12% | -42 |
| Chevron Corp. CVX, -0.18% | -48 |
| Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM, -0.04% | -72 |
| Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WBA, -0.04% | -79 |
| DuPont de Nemours Inc. DWDP, +0.00% | -146 |
| International Business Machines Corp. IBM, +0.36% | -194 |
| Caterpillar Inc. CAT, +0.70% | -247 |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS, +2.76% | -323 |
| 3M Co. MMM, +1.41% | -564 |
All three main U.S. stock gauges were rallying on Thursday, aided partly by stock-supportive central-bank policy, with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in congressional testimony setting the stage for an aggressive round of reductions to benchmark federal-funds rates at a range of 2.25%-2.50%. On Thursday, the S&P 500 SPX, +0.03% and the Nasdaq Composite indexes COMP, -0.19% were trading in record territory.
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