It’s the 85th anniversary of the one of the defining moments that led to the Great Depression.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 23.6% from the open on Oct 28 to the close on Oct 29, 1929 — or Black Tuesday.
A week earlier the market temporarily crashed on Black Thursday but major industrialists of the age made massive purchases and shored up sentiment. But it only lasted the weekend and on Mon-Tues, the market crashed. Another attempt was made to buy shares but the market later continued to decline and bottomed on Nov 13 in a cumulative 48% decline in just over two months.
About half of those declines eventually retraced in the next six months but the economy cratered and the market fell much further, losing nearly 90% of its peak value.
Dow Jones Industrial Average 1929-1932
If only they had QE.
