Black Thursday, the first major selling day of the 1929 Wall Street crash, was 24 October 1929.
On that Thursday, unusually heavy selling hit the New York Stock Exchange. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell sharply during the morning, but a group of leading bankers bought shares in an effort to restore confidence. The market recovered much of its intraday decline before closing lower, creating a temporary impression that the crisis might be contained.
Selling returned with greater force the following week. Black Monday came on 28 October, and Black Tuesday followed on 29 October. The Dow fell 12.8 percent on Black Monday and 11.7 percent on Black Tuesday. The crash formed part of a broader economic collapse that became the Great Depression, although the crash itself did not single-handedly cause every aspect of that depression.
Black Thursday is therefore distinct from Black Tuesday, the day most often associated with the final panic of October 1929. The crash followed years of speculation, widespread margin buying, weakening economic conditions, and difficulties in the banking and business sectors.