The first major wave of panic selling on the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929 was called Black Thursday.
Black Thursday occurred on October 24, 1929, when unusually heavy selling drove the Dow Jones Industrial Average sharply lower. Trading volume reached a then-record level, and the turmoil helped create the popular image of the Wall Street Crash. A group of leading bankers later pooled money to buy shares and temporarily steady prices, but the relief did not last.
Black Thursday is often confused with Black Tuesday, October 29, the day more commonly associated with the final dramatic collapse of the 1929 boom. The crash unfolded over several trading sessions rather than on one isolated day. The Dow had reached a peak in September 1929 before falling steeply through October and November.
The 1929 crash was followed by a prolonged economic contraction that became the Great Depression. Stock-market losses were important, but historians also examine bank failures, reduced investment, falling demand, and international financial pressures when explaining the wider crisis.