Blue-chip stocks are COMMON STOCKs of nationally known companies that have a proven record of profitability, increases in stock value, and reputations for being leaders in their respective industries. Blue-chip stocks typically sell at a premium compared to other firms in their industry and usually pay moderate DIVIDEND yields. Blue-chip companies have quality management, products, and services. The term blue chip comes from poker, where the blue chip is the highest-valued chip. International Business Machines (IBM), General Electric, General Motors, Dow Chemical, and DuPont are examples of traditional American blue-chip stocks. In recent years dominant firms in the technology industry, such as Microsoft and Intel, have also become known as blue-chip stocks. Ironically, Enron and MCI WorldCom were also considered blue chips. Sometimes business media refer to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) as the blue-chip average. The DJIA, initially an index of manufacturing company stocks, has been reconfigured in recent years to reflect the growing importance of service and technology companies in the U.S. economy. Now the DJIA includes dominant firms from many nonmanufacturing U.S. industries, including McDonalds (fast food), Wal-Mart (discount retailing), and American Express (credit). AT&T;, once the most widely held stock in the United States, has lost its blue-chip status to some investors. Blue-chip stock is also an internationally used term. In Australia companies such as Australian Gas and Light, Amcor, National Australian Bank, Rio Tinto, and Qantas are known as blue-chip stocks.