The panic-selling Thursday on October 24, 1929, during the U.S. stock-market crash was called Black Thursday.
On that day, heavy selling drove prices sharply lower on the New York Stock Exchange. A group of prominent bankers, including Richard Whitney, attempted to restore confidence by buying large blocks of leading shares. Their intervention temporarily steadied the market, but it did not end the underlying collapse.
Black Thursday was the first of several notorious sessions in the crash’s most dramatic week. Black Monday followed on October 28, when the Dow lost 12.82%, and Black Tuesday came on October 29, when it lost 11.73%. The sequence made the crash a lasting symbol of financial panic.
Black Thursday is sometimes confused with Black Tuesday because October 29 received greater attention in popular accounts. The Thursday episode, however, specifically refers to October 24. The crash grew out of a speculative bubble, widespread margin borrowing, weakening economic conditions, and fragile investor confidence rather than a single isolated event.