Walmart, Johnson & Johnson Join Dow Jones Industrial Average On This Day In Market History

Benzinga takes a look back at a notable market-related moment that occurred on this date.

What Happened? On this day in 1997, Walmart Inc WMT, Johnson & Johnson JNJ, Travelers Companies Inc TRV and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co HPE joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Where The Market Was: The S&P 500 traded at 795.71 and the Dow traded at 6,955.48.

What Else Was Going On In The World? In 1997, Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris, France. The average cost of a new house was $124,100.

Modernizing The Dow: The 1997 shuffle of the Dow Jones Industrial Average components represented an updating of the index from the old industrial U.S. economy to the modern tech- and health care-driven economy.

The four new additions replaced Westinghouse Electric Corp., Texaco Inc., Bethlehem Steel Corp. and Woolworth Corp.

Westinghouse, Bethlehem and Woolworth were original Dow components.

At the time, Johnson & Johnson was the ninth-largest U.S. stock with around an $85-billion market cap. Walmart was the 11th largest with an $81-billion market cap.

By late 2008, Walmart had grown to a market cap of more than $200 billion and was the second most valuable stock in the market.

Today, Johnson & Johnson is the 12th-most valuable public company with a $400-billion market cap and Walmart is the 14th-most valuable with a $371.43-billion market cap.

Westinghouse changed its name to CBS Corporation CBS later that year, Bethlehem Steel filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and was dissolved in 2003. Woolworth pivoted to athletic apparel and changed its name to Foot Locker, Inc. FL in 2001. Texaco was acquired by Chevron Corporation CVX in 2002.