A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
On Oct. 24, 1929, a massive sell-off at the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange led to chaos as stockbrokers couldn’t keep up with trade requests.
Though the market recovered some losses by the end of the day, “Black Thursday” marked the beginning of the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
It took about 25 years, historians say, for the U.S. economy to recover.
The Great Crash is mostly associated with Oct. 24, called Black Thursday, the day of the largest sell-off of shares in U.S. history, and Oct. 29, called Black Tuesday, when investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day.
In many ways, Americans never saw this coming.
The headline in the Deseret News that day read: “Bankers decide market plunge holds no danger; Hurried meeting of finance leaders finds all house in good shape; panic halted”
From Oct. 25: “Big banks post resources to save exchange from disaster”
From Oct. 28: “Bankers again enter market but fail to halt decline”
From Oct. 29: “Stock exchange sets record as drop continues: Big banks slash margins in half in battle to curb selling; crash is practically universal”
Then from Oct. 30: “U.S. business outlook grows brighter as stock mark recovers”
The crash, which came a month after a similar crash in the London Stock Exchange, signaled the beginning of the Great Depression.
Here are some stories from Deseret News archives about the 1929 market crash:
“Depression shifted Utah’s economy”
“Book explodes ‘The Great Myths’ surrounding 1929′s market crash”
“Opinion: Did you see what they said after the stock market crash in 1929?”
“Opinion: Is the 1929 stock market crash a forecast for today?”
“Learning from the Great Depression”
“Opinion: What previous recessions can teach us about our economy now”
“Stock market give you the willies? Relax, relive good old days of ‘29″
“The history of Black Friday — the title comes from a stock market crash”