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This Week in Wall Street History: Black Tuesday — October 29, 1929, and What It Means Today
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In this episode of This Week in Wall Street History, Todd M. Schoenberger tells the story of Black Tuesday — October 29, 1929 — the panic day that marked the climax of the 1929 crash and helped usher in the Great Depression. We’ll break down what happened on that single day (more than 16 million shares traded, the Dow plunged roughly 12%, and investors lost the modern equivalent of billions), explain the causes (speculation, margin debt, and eroding confidence), and then connect the dots to today’s markets: how modern liquidity, central-bank policy, and market structure make a repeat event different — and what vulnerabilities remain during bouts of sharp volatility. Includes historic metrics, primary sources, and a contemporary market snapshot.
Black Tuesday — Oct. 29, 1929: Over 16 million shares changed hands and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 12% on the day (roughly a 23% two-day drop when combined with Oct. 28). Estimates at the time put paper losses in the billions of 1929 dollars.
Broader 1929 context: From its September peak to late November 1929 the Dow fell roughly ~40% in a matter of months, signaling the end of the Roaring Twenties and the start of a sustained economic contraction.
Why markets today are different: Modern markets have far greater liquidity, electronic trading, margin rules, and backstops (deposit insurance, central-bank liquidity facilities) — and central banks now act as acute responders to market stress (e.g., liquidity actions, interest-rate policy). Still, sharp single-day drops and concentrated exposures (mega-cap concentration, derivatives, or leverage pockets) can produce outsized market moves. Recent 2025 volatility — including tech-led selloffs and intra-day swings — shows that rapid repricing can still roil markets even with modern safeguards.
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