1987: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gets a tune-up, as Owens-Illinois Inc. and Inco Ltd. are replaced by Coca-Cola Co. and Boeing Co. Owens-Illinois is deleted because it's no longer a public company after its recent leveraged buyout, while Inco is purged "to reflect long-run changes in the economy and the market," says Norman Pearlstine, managing editor of the Wall Street Journal. In other words, Inco's sluggish performance was making the index look bad.

The Wall Street Journal, March 12, 1987, p. C1;"DJIA Ins & Outs Chart,"

1986: Oracle Corp. goes public on NASDAQ at an initial price of $15.00 a share. The stock closes the day at $20.75, setting the stage for another software company, Microsoft Corp., to go public the following day.

1986: Daily trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange exceeds 200 million for the first time, as 210 million shares change hands.

Museum of American Financial History

1956: The Dow Jones Industrial Average, less than a year-and-a-half after crossing the 400 mark, breaks through 500 for the first time, closing at 500.24.

John A. Prestbo, ed., The Market's Measure: An Illustrated History of America Told through the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow Jones, New York, 1999), p. 73.