Black Thursday


Black Thursday

The date of the first large stock market crash that presaged the Great Depression. While the Great Depression had already begun in some areas, Black Thursday marked the end of the speculative bubble that had marked most investing in the 1920s. Black Thursday occurred on October 24, 1929, with Black Monday and Black Tuesday following the next week. The Great Depression contributed to the formation of most regulation still in force today.

Black Thursday

A widely used reference to October 24, 1929, the date on which security prices plunged, producing one of the most memorable days in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. During that Thursday afternoon, Richard Whitney, who was then vice president of the exchange, went to the floor with large buy orders in a successful attempt to stem the decline. Unfortunately, his success was short-lived.