This Day in History: br Stock Market Crashes.br October 29, 1929.br Black Tuesday — as the day came to br be known — was the final collapse of br a market that had experienced massive br losses over the course of a few weeks.br Billions of dollars were lost as br volatile trading led to the exchange br of more than 16 million shares on this day alone.br The United States was on the br threshold of the Great Depression, br an era of severe economic hardship that br would take nearly to two decades to reverse.br The collapse was br several years in the making.br It was fueled by unchecked br economic expansion and br speculation, as well as low wages br and poorly regulated lending practices. .br By 1933, almost half of all br banks in America had failed. U.S.