There is a group of 30 US companies controlling $3.8 Trillion US Dollars. These 30 companies make up the Dow Jones Industrial Manufacturing System group which seem to have had a very high impact on the economy due to their collective market capitalization.
Usually an index for financial markets is a grouping of public companies that are tracked for daily performance. The largest public US industrial companies are grouped as part of the Dow Industrial Index. Many international and domestic investors make daily decisions based upon the performance of these companies.
The company in the US that commands the most amount of public investor cash is Apple Inc (AAPL), but it is not tracked by the Dow Jones Industrials. Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) and PetroChina How To Start Your Own Business From Home Company Ltd (PTR) are also left off of the Dow Jones list even though they have more cash than the rest of the DJI list below Exxon, who tops the Dow Jones list as having the most cash.
The top 5 US companies with the most cash:
1. Apple Corporation (AAPL) $487.1Billion
2. Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A&B) $467.6Billion
3. Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM) $418.6Billion
4. PetroChina Co Ltd (PTR) $274.8Billion
5. Microsoft Corp (MSFT) $264.1Billion
Exxon and Microsoft are both on the DJI Index, but they are not the top 2 positions for total US market capitalization. 3 of the top 5 largest US cash holders are petroleum companies totalling $1.2Trillion of US investor cash in their control. Apple and Microsoft together do not total as much as the top 3 US oil companies, but the Technology and Energy sectors are a strong couple.
Charles Henry Dow established the basis for technical analysis through his research of the original Dow Industrials. His partnership with Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser was the beginning of Dow Jones & Company. DJ&C owns the Wall Street Journal, Barrons Magazine, and many other news services and products. Dow Jones makes money by selling ads, which is typically more lucrative when investors are fearful.
The Company was controlled for many years by the Bancroft family, notably by Mary Bancroft who was involved with the US intelligence in Switzerland during WWII. The family’s control was taken over by Rupert Murdoch and the News Corporation in 2007 that also owns the New York Post and the Fox Media Networks, among other assets. The CME Group now owns the controlling amount of shares of the company. Dow Jones and the CME Group will choose to include the index of companies that will sell the most advertising and are willing to be on their list. That is their fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. As soon as PetroChina makes a bid to acquire Exxon Mobil, the DJI list will have to be updated. Apple will join a list when they are offered the right price for use of their name.