That things aren't going well for the economy, the informed investor / reader does not have to be reminded about.

You don't need to be a financial editor with a Ph.D. in international economics to detect that.

Or, as CNN's Larry King would say, "For this, he went to school?...To tell me that things aren't going too well for the United States, these days, economically?"

Further, you can cite a dozen or more statistics that can give you a pretty good evaluation or thumb nail sketch of the U.S. economy's health - - gross domestic product, or GDP, being one of the best - - and prudent investors / traders monitor them.

But if you want a quick, summary indicator - - a snapshot of the health of the U.S. economy in-an-instant, if you will, check one index: the Dow Jones Industrial Average - - the most cited and widely recognized stock market index in the world. It's also still the most important stock market index in the world.

The industrials set the tone

During faddish or frenzied times or during the financial world's latest fascination with a new sector or sector index, Wall Street veteran Michael Metz, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co., undoubtedly will be seen saying something like this, "Friends, it is called the Dow Jones INDUS-TRI-AL Average, not the biotech average."

Metz's point is obvious enough, but somehow regularly forgotten by typical investors and professional market participants, alike: to gauge the health of the economy, monitor the industrials, and for a snapshot of the above, monitor the Dow.

In the decades since its inception, many indexes and indicators, all relevant and illuminating, have followed - - the S & P 500, Nasdaq, Russell 2000, and countless sector indexes - - but if you want to take the pulse of the U.S. economy, and more broadly, and by extension, the health of United States / the state of the union, keep your eye on the Dow.