Stock Market Crashes (1929): The enthusiasm and optimism of the 1920s in the United States led many people to invest their savings into the stock market. As the bull market (when stock prices are rising) continued throughout 1927 and 1928, even more everyday people were enticed to invest.
By early 1929, interest in the stock market reached a fevered pitch. The upward swing in the summer of 1929 convinced many that the high stock prices were going to remain high.
Then panic struck on Black Thursday, October 24, 1929. Prices began to plummet. Although there was rally in the afternoon, investors had become frightened.
On October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed. Massive number of people were trying to sell their stocks and nearly no one was buying. The stock market didn't bottom out until 1932.
October 24 1929, New York, US: Panicked stock traders crowd outside the New York stock exchange on the day of the market crash
October 1929, London, England: The huge
October 31 1929, London, England: A young telephone operator at St Phalle Limited writes share values on a blackboard as he hears them
straight from New York via a headset
1930, US: Men eating in a soup kitchen
November 16 1930, Chicago, US: Notorious gangster Al Capone attempts to help unemployed men with his soup kitchen, Big Al's Kitchen for the Needy
