On Saturday, October 19, 1929, we learn that the Secretary of State for Commerce, Lamont, is experiencing difficulties in obtaining from state funds the 100,000 dollars necessary for the maintenance of the yacht Corsair, including the financier John Pierpont Morgan just donated to the government. The press reported the day before that the market was weak and the New York Times stock index fell 7 points. Within hours, 3,488,100 shares changed hands, and the New York Times index fell another 12 points. On Sunday, the stock market depression makes the headlines. But we are waiting for a support intervention from the market.
Monday 21 is a dark day. Stock sales peak at 6,091,870 trades. Concern seizes hundreds of thousands of people who, across the country, follow the evolution of the situation. The ticker only reports the situation with a delay. We have the feeling that we can be completely ruined, and this, without knowing it. Every ten minutes, stock prices are printed on the tape of the device:the gap widens visibly between their previous value and the one that is registered. More and more, we say to ourselves that we must sell. However, when the market closed, prices firmed up and the New York Times stock index only fell by 6 points.
Despite the reassuring declarations of Professor Fisher, according to whom “speculation only affects a marginal fringe of the market”, on October 23, dreams of new gains are turning into heavy losses. 2,600,000 shares are traded at catastrophic prices. An hour before Wall Street closes, the index falls from 415 to 384, returning to the June level. To add to the panic, a snowstorm interrupts communications in the Midwest. In the afternoon and evening, thousands of people decide to get rid of their actions, while there is still time.