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Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) is joining the Dow Industrials (^DJI), giving the 130-year-old blue-chip index another dose of the same megacap tech trade already dominating the Nasdaq 100 (^NDX).
The swap, which removes Verizon (VZ), pushes Alphabet into the Dow alongside Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Amazon (AMZN).
It’s not the full “Magnificent Seven,” as Meta (META) and Tesla (TSLA) are still outside the Dow.
But the visual shift is hard to miss.
Year-to-date returns shown. Dow view replaces Verizon with Alphabet for comparison. Heatmap size is for visual comparison, not official Dow weighting, because the Dow is price-weighted.
· Yahoo Finance
The Dow still has plenty of old-economy muscle.
Caterpillar (CAT) is up nearly 75% this year. Cisco (CSCO) is up nearly 60%. Goldman Sachs (GS), UnitedHealth (UNH), Honeywell (HON), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) are all up double digits.
Still, the top of the Dow now overlaps more directly with the Nasdaq’s defining trade. The catch is timing.
Dow changes often recognize what the market has already done. In late August 2020, Salesforce (CRM) replaced Exxon Mobil (XOM) in the Dow. Since then, Exxon has risen more than 240%, while Salesforce has fallen over 40%, according to Yahoo Finance analysis of AlphaSpace data.
Dow inclusion is not a buy signal by itself. It can also mark the moment a stock has become too big to ignore.
That makes Alphabet’s chart the next test.
GOOGL is trading near its old breakout zone, trying to turn a former ceiling into support. Hold that level, and the Dow is adding a leader buyers are still defending. Lose it, and the Dow just got more Nasdaq-like into a softer megacap tape.
Jared Blikre is the global markets and data editor for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X at @SPYJared or email him at jaredblikre@yahooinc.com.
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