By Donna Westfall – January 5, 2018 – Whether you love him or hate him, President Trump is taking credit for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA or simply Dow) breaking all time records. What does this mean and why is it happening? Brief history. The index was created in May 1896 by Charles Dow. He was the creator of the Wall Street Journal. His buddy, Edward Jones, was a statistician thus Dow Jones. Here's what the index does. It measures the daily stock price movements of 30 large, publicly-owned U.S. companies. Now get this: The 30 blue-chip companies, considered to be the leaders of the economy, are chosen by the editors of the Wall Street Journal. Here's the 30 companies currently making up the Dow Jones. Recognize them? Of course you do: 1. 3M 2. American Express 3. Apple 4. Boeing 5. Caterpillar 6. Chevron 7. Cisco 8. Coca Cola 9. Disney 10. Dow DuPont Inc 11. Exxon Mobile 12. General Electric 13. Goldman Sachs 14. Home Depot 15. IBM 16. Intel 17. Johnson & Johnson 18. JP Morgan Chase 19. McDonald's 10. Merck 21. Microsoft 22. Nike 23. Pfizer 24. Proctor & Gamble 25. Travelers Companies, Inc. 26. United Technologies 27. United Health 28. Verizon 29. VISA 30. Wal Mart Of the original dozen companies that started the Dow in 1896, are any of them still on today's list? Yes. General Electric. In the mid-1880s, the index stood at a level of 62.76. They've come a long way, baby. Why does Trump take credit? Early Friday morning Trump tweeted: "Dow goes from 18,589 on November 9, 2016, to 25,075 today, for a new all-time Record. Jumped 1000 points in last 5 weeks, Record fastest 1000 point move in history. This is all about the Make America Great Again agenda! Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Six trillion dollars in value created!" Does that mean you should run right out and invest in stocks? Not necessarily if you don't know what you're doing. Start doing some research, then talk to people in the industry because what goes up can and does come down. The best advice, in my opinion, is to never invest more than you can lose.