Black Thursday was the name of the 1929 New York trading day when stock prices first plunged dramatically before the crash’s worst losses.
Black Thursday occurred on October 24, 1929. Heavy selling produced a sharp decline in stock prices and exceptionally high trading volume at the New York Stock Exchange. The panic eased temporarily after leading bankers purchased shares, but the intervention did not solve the deeper problems in the market.
Selling intensified again the following week. Black Monday occurred on October 28, and Black Tuesday followed on October 29. These later sessions produced even larger losses and made the crash impossible to dismiss as a temporary disturbance.
The crash followed a period of rapid speculation, widespread margin borrowing, and rising share prices. Historians continue to debate the relative importance of monetary policy, industrial weakness, credit conditions, and international economic problems, but the sequence of the four named trading days is well established.