• The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is one of the most often cited proxies for the stock market and U.S. economy as a whole. The index can be divided into six sectors, each of which is composed of numerous individual industries, representing a wide swath of the economy. The Dow Jones is composed of only 30 stocks, each of which is supposed to represent a leader in its respective industry.
  
  

Basic Materials

• The basic materials sector represents companies that produce natural resources like metals, oil and gas. In the Dow Jones, there are three companies classified as basic materials companies. These are oil and gas producers Exxon (XOM) and Chevron (CVX), and aluminum producer Alcoa (AA).
  
  

Industrial Goods

• The Industrial Goods sector is composed of companies that manufacture heavy equipment and other products of heavy industry. In the Dow Jones, 3M (MMM) and General Electric (GE) are diversified industrials, producing equipment for many types of applications. Boeing (BA) and United Technologies (UTX) in aerospace, Caterpillar (CAT) in construction equipment and Dupont (DU) in chemicals are more industry-specific industrials.
  
  

Consumer Goods

• Many different types of companies fall under the category of Consumer Goods. In the Dow Jones, these are Coca-Cola (KO), General Motors (GM), Home Depot (HD), Kraft Foods (KFT), McDonald's (MCD), Procter & Gamble (PG), Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Walt Disney (DIS).
  
  

Financial

• The Financials are stocks of commercial and investment banks and other financial services providers. In the DJIA there are four financial stocks. They are American Express (AXP), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM).
  
  

Healthcare

• The Healthcare sector covers a broad range of sectors that not only provide healthcare services, but also manufacture drugs and hospital equipment. In the Dow Jones, the Healthcare sector is represented by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and pharmaceutical manufacturers Merck (MRK) and Pzifer (PFE).
  
  

Technology

• Lastly, the Dow Jones does include some Technology stocks. Considered broadly, technology includes everything from large-scale communications networks to personal computers, cell phones, calculators and software. The DJIA Tech stocks are AT&T (T), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Intel (INTC), IBM (IBM), Microsoft (MSFT) and Verizon (VZ).