2022 Dow Jones Industrial Average Return

The Dow Jones Industrial Average returned -8.74% in 2022. Using a better calculation including dividend reinvestment, the Dow Jones returned -6.86%.

2022 Dow Jones Industrial Average Return: Reinvest Your Dividends

I ran the above calculation for an index purchase at open on January 3rd, 2022 and sold at close on December 30, 2022. This is the result if you did all of your investing in the maximum possible span inside 2022. It's also, like most estimates, an (nearly?) impossible benchmark to hit exactly.

Alternatively, you might use a one-year holding proxy, where you instead bought the closing index price on December 31, 2020. In that case, you would have seen around -8.78% and (again) -6.86% returns. S&P Dow Jones did not report a different closing price for the Total Return flavor of the index on December 31, 2021 versus the open on January 3, 2022.

Dow Jones 2022 Index Returns

Dow Jones 2022 Total Return Index Returns

While the exact date doesn't really matter, dividends do matter. Versus other indices, the Dow Jones tends to include mature companies which pay more of their earnings out in dividends. If you held a fund and reinvested dividends for the entire year, you would have performed better than the price index would suggest.

Investing in the Dow Jones Price-Weighted Stock Index

Most stock indices nowadays are market capitalization weighted, (see the 2022 S&P 500 Return). The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted index. Price-weighted indices derive their index value by taking the trading price of the underlying company shares times some "individual stock factor".

Price weighting is not a great indexing method. However, honestly, it tracks other large cap indexes "fairly" well. For the most part, indices weighted by market capitalization is the superior methodology to track a basket of stocks.

And this year, the Dow Jones beat the S&P 500 and NASDAQ returns (both market capitalization weighted indices). However, a lot of that is the factor effect - both the S&P 500, and to an even greater degree, the NASDAQ, are technology-heavy. 2022 was not a good year for technology!

Source on the 2022 Dow Jones Industrial Average Return Calculations

Data is credit Dow Jones Indices, owned by S&P Dow Jones Indices. They run both the Dow Jones Total Return and Price Indices.

Historically, here on DQYDJ we have gone pretty far with our content – both in investing, and with some Dow Jones specific posts and tools:

• Dow Jones Industrial Average Dividend Reinvestment Calculator
  Estimate Dow Jones performance and returns back to 1896
• Dow Jones Industrial Average Historical Return Calculator
  Summary statistics on the Dow Jones over periods you choose.

See DJIA returns in other years:

• 2023 Dow Jones Industrial Average Return
• 2021 Dow Jones Industrial Average Return
• 2020 Dow Jones Industrial Average Return
• 2019 Dow Jones Industrial Average Return
• 2018 Dow Jones Industrial Average Return
• 2017 Dow Jones Industrial Average Return
• 2016 Dow Jones Industrial Average Return
• 2015 Dow Jones Industrial Average Return
• 2014 Dow Jones Industrial Average Return