The Dow 30 ( referring to 30 companies ), commonly referred to as the "Dow," or the "Dow Jones Industrial Average," was created by Wall Street Journal editor Charles Dow and got its name from Dow and his business partner, Edward Jones. The stock market index was developed as a simple means of tracking U.S. stock market performance in an age when information flow was often limited. The combined stock price of these 30 large, publicly-traded companies determines the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). As some of the top stocks in the marketplace, the belief is that the Dow 30 represents a strong assessment of the market's overall health and tendencies.