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Black Tuesday was one of the worst days the U.S. stock market has EVER seen. Before this day, there had been a
Black Monday and a Black Thursday. In order to understand what Black Tuesday is about, you need to know about
these black days.
On Black Thursday (October 24, 1929), a record of 12.9 MILLION shares were traded at the stock market. That was a
huge number for back then. The ticker tape (which reports the New York Stock Exchange's stock prices to people in
other places in the country) was behind one and a half hours, and the investors panicked. Unable to find out the
current prices, they bought and sold and lost lost lost money like crazy.
The Chicago and Buffalo exchanges were both shut down completely by the middle of the day. Eleven well-known
speculators (people who basically gamble with stock) had already killed themselves and the NYSE closed the
visitor's gallery on the wild scenes below.
Then, a man named Richard Whitney stepped up to the plate and saved the day. Confident and powerful, he strode on
to the floor, and, instead of announcing that the Exchange was going to be closed -- he was VP of the NYSE, and
he could have done it -- he started making huge purchases. That drove up prices and drove up everyone's
confidence, saving the day. He was considered the "hero" for Black Thursday.
Companies said that Black Thursday was just a mistake, and everything should be running smoothly afterward, but
the terrible events of that day carried on to Black Monday.
On Black Monday (October 28, 1929), things started calmer, but by the end, 16.9 MILLION shares were traded, and
the ticker tape was behind TWO AND A HALF HOURS. Just like I said, that left investors in the dark about the
current prices. Oddly, no one came up to the plate and saved the day. Everyone just sat back and hoped things
would get better. And guess what. Things didn't.
How much worse could it get?! A lot worse.
Now we can go on to the main topic. Black Tuesday.
Black Tuesday (October 29, 1929), was the worst day in history for the U.S.'s stock market. (Some people say the
worst day happened in 1987, but they're just comparing numbers -- the crash in 1929 devastated the country.) On
October 29, later nicknamed "Black Tuesday," the stock market crashed. On that day, over 16 million shares of
stock were sold and the market fell over $14 billion. By comparison, the entire budget of the U.S. government
that year was $3 billion.
Brokers screamed as hysterical visitors were taken away by the police. In one day, the United States lost more
money than it had spent in all of World War I.
The afteraffects were felt for decades, as millions of lives were scarred and the world shaken. The U.S. stock
market didn't recover fully until 20 years later!
-Swmergrl, wanting to get your brains thinking, even though it's spring break! ;-D
I found almost all of my information from http://mutualfunds.about.com/cs/history/a/black_thursday.htm. You can also check out FudgyFeud's article "The Stock Market Crash" to find out more.
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