October 24, 1929, was known as Black Thursday, the panic that preceded the Wall Street Crash’s later Black Tuesday.
Trading volume surged on the New York Stock Exchange as investors rushed to sell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell sharply at the open, but a group of major bankers bought heavily in an effort to restore confidence. Their intervention helped the market recover much of its intraday loss, although it did not end the underlying instability.
Black Thursday is often confused with Black Tuesday, October 29, when another enormous wave of selling drove the Dow down about 12%. The crash had begun before either date: the Dow reached a record closing high in September 1929 and declined during October. The market’s collapse continued into 1932, when the Dow reached a low roughly 89% below its 1929 peak.