Today is the anniversary of Black Tuesday, part of the great stock market crash of 1929 which ushered in the Great Depression. The great bull market and enthusiasm of the 1920s had led the stock market to record highs. The market had been on a nine-year run that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average increase in value tenfold, peaking at 381.17 on September 3, 1929. Much of the stock was purchased on borrowed money.
Some experienced investors realized that stock prices were unsupportable and began selling. On October 24, “Black Thursday“, the market lost 11% of its value at the opening bell. In the first three minutes alone, nearly three million shares of stock, accounting for $2 billion of wealth, changed hands. The huge volume meant that the report of prices on the ticker tape in brokerage offices around the nation was hours late, and so investors had no idea what most stocks were trading for.
Several leading Wall Street bankers met to find a solution to the panic and chaos on the trading floor. They agreed to support the market with strong buying backed by their collective wealth. It didn’t work. On October 29, 1929, “Black Tuesday” hit Wall Street as investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Around $14 billion of stock value was lost, wiping out thousands of investors. The panic selling reached its peak with some stocks having no buyers at any price.
Today is the birthday, in 1946, of Rob Van Leeuwen, from the Dutch rock band Shocking Blue, who formed in The Hague in 1967. They had the 1970 US No.1 & UK No.8 single ‘Venus’ which topped the charts in nine countries and was the first song by a Dutch band to reach No. 1 on the US chart. Worldwide, the single has sold over 5 million copies. Bananarama covered ‘Venus’ in 1986, hitting No.1 in the United States, Canada, and Australia, and reaching No.8 in the UK. American rock band Nirvana recorded a cover version of the Shocking Blue song ‘Love Buzz’ for its 1988 debut single, released on Sub Pop in the USA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LhkyyCvUHk
