NEW YORK (WCSC) – “Black Tuesday” descended on the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 29, 1929, as prices collapsed amid panic selling, catapulting the nation into the Great Depression.
Financial uncertainty fed on fear and rumors as the day progressed. Investors ordered their brokers to sell at any price and stocks were nearly given away. Almost 13 million shares were traded that day.
The ticker could not keep pace with the volume of activity and was four hours behind when the closing bell sounded at 3 p.m. The day’s losses, estimated in the billions, wiped out thousands of investors.
Several theories explain the crash. Analysts had warned that years of euphoric buying had pushed stock prices too high, with some trading at 15 to 150 times their earnings. Psychology also played a role as selling snowballed out of control when the market stalled.
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