Stock Market Performance.The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) indexes are used as measures of overall movement in the stock market. The DJIA is based on the price movements of 30 large companies; the S&P 500 is an index composed of 500 stocks. Some say the S&P 500 is a better measure of stock market performance because it is broader based. The closing price for the DJIA and the S&P 500 for 15 weeks of a previous year follow (Barron'sweb site).

Date DJIA S&P January 6 12,360 1,278 January 13 12,422 1,289 January 20 12,720 1,315 January 27 12,660 1,316 February 3 12,862 1,345 February 10 12,801 1,343 February 17 12,950 1,362 February 24 12,983 1,366 March 2 12,978 1,370 March 9 12,922 1,371 March 16 13,233 1,404 March 23 13,081 1,397 March 30 13,212 1,408 April 5 13,060 1,398 April 13 12,850 1,370