October 24, 1929, was the date of the 1929 Wall Street Crash’s first major one-day collapse, known as Black Thursday. Heavy selling overwhelmed the New York Stock Exchange, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell sharply during the session.
A group of leading bankers met after the market weakened and announced a pool intended to support prices. The intervention temporarily steadied trading, but confidence remained fragile. Selling returned the following week, culminating in Black Tuesday on October 29.
The crash did not by itself create every condition of the Great Depression. Economic contraction, banking failures, falling production, debt problems, and policy decisions all contributed to the severe downturn that followed. The stock-market collapse nevertheless became its most famous financial symbol.
Black Thursday is sometimes confused with Black Tuesday, the later session that brought a larger volume of selling and is often treated as the crash’s climax.