What are some publicly traded stocks?

Among publicly traded stocks are the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the Dow 30, which include Apple, Chevron, Verizon, General Electric, Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. The stocks of any of these 30 publicly traded companies can influence the performance of the stock market, which is why investors use the Dow 30 average to gain an overview of the behavior of the stock market, according to Dividend.com.

The Wall Street Journal editor established the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896, making it the second oldest index after the Dow Jones Transportation Average. While the publicly traded companies in the Dow 30 change regularly, the diversity remain constant with companies from various industries represented in the index.

The following is a list of the Dow 30 companies as of 2015, as listed on CNN.

• Energy

Chevron Corporation and Exxon Mobil Company

• Health Care

Pfizer Incorporated, Merck, UnitedHealth Group and Johnson & Johnson

• Financial

Visa, J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, The Travelers Companies and American Express

• Industry

Caterpillar Incorporated, DuPont, General Electric, United Technologies, 3M Company and Boeing Company

• Technology

Microsoft, Apple, Intel, I.B.M., Verizon and Cisco Systems

• Consumer

Nike, Wal-Mart Stores, Home Depot, Walt Disney Company, McDonald's Corporation, Coca-Cola Company and Procter & Gamble