Charles H. Dow and the Dow Theory

For anyone interested in stock market speculation or investment, the various “swings” of the market, the daily averages, and the “confirmations” of bull and bear markets are inextricably bound up with the name of Charles H. Dow. Yet not many can say who Dow was, and it is only a rare student who knows anything about his life or just what his contributions to stock market investment theory were. A search for facts in most reference works would reveal surprisingly little.

Actually, Dow was one of the foremost financial journalists of the last half of the nine teenth century. Born in Connecticut in 1851 , he received his early newspape r training under two of the top journalists of the era – Samuel Bowles of The Springfield Republican and George W. Danielson of The Providence Journal. He then went on to  achieve his finest general reporting in “The Leadville Letters,” articles written on a visit to Colorado at the height of the mining boom in 1879, which are reprinted in full in the Appendix.

Dow then turned to financial journalism in New York City, soon joined in the founding of Dow Jones & Company, and shortly after became the first editor of The Wall Street Journal. His editorials on the stock market, full of wisdom and common sense, appeared frequently until his death in 1902. While Dow still lived, S. A. Nelson included a number of these editorials as a part of a book, The A B C of Stock Speculation, and the “Dow Theory” was launched. Later exponents, especially William Peter Hamilton and Robert Rhea, added many other features to the Theory, but Dow’s thought remains as the foundation of what is still the best known theory of stock market investment.

In its study of a leading financial thinker and those who followed him, this book presents a picture of the development of a classic method of market analysis . As such it will find its plaee in the libraries of all careful students of the market who want a solid background of knowledge on which to base their own evaluation of market movements.

Contents:

• THE EARLY LIFE OF CHARLES H. DOW
• A NEWSPAPERMAN IN PROVIDENCE
• LETTERS FROM THE MAGIC CITY
• DOW IN NEW YORK CITY
• THE S. A. NELSON VERSION OF THE DOW THEORY
• THE EDITORIALS OF CHARLES H. DOW
• THE INTERPRETATION OF WILLIAM PETER HAMILTON
• THE WORK OF ROBERT RHEA
• THE EVOLUTION OF THE DOW THEORY

Charles H. Dow and the Dow Theory By George W. Bishop pdf