Business Outlook: Anniversary of 1929 Debacle Nears
r.;- Any day now, youÛªll be heading about the twenty-fifth anniversary of the great stock market crash. On Wednesday, ÐÊ^October 23, 1929, industrial prices fell 6 percent. Trading exceeded six million shares. That was the prelude. .</br></br>*>!J-The -next day became known as ÛÏBlack Thursday.Û Volume hit more than 12 million åÇshares, then an all-time record. Brokers and their aides screamed margin calls long into ^the night.' å£ October 29ÛÓTerrible Tuesday ÛÓ was the Û¢-Û¢crusher. It peeled 11 percent off prices, as 16 million shares were chaotically traded.</br></br>-XToday two million shares constitute a good day.) So inundated were the brokers and the -sNew York Stock ExchangeÛªs staff that trading sessions were truncated to three hours from i -.the usual five.</br></br>~\Fear and panic stole into the strongest hearts and minds. -Government officials, bankers, and businessmen declared economic conditions to be ÛÏfundamentally sound.Û Nobody believed 'them.</br></br>Today offerk a triumphant contrast. At the top of a long -bull market, itÛªs hard to get many people to believe that conditions arenÛªt ÛÏfundamentally sound.*Ûª This is one of the few -times in the postwar period when the prophets of recession arenÛªt freely prophesying.