Stock Market Dbq

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When George Washington was president, in 1792, the New York Stock Exchange was founded when 24 stockbrokers and merchants signed an agreement in New York under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street. During the mid- to late 1920s, the stock market in the United States underwent rapid expansion. It continued for the first six months following President Herbert Hoover's inauguration in January 1929. Here are the top five reasons for the stock market crash;
1)Banks participating in stock market 2) Undefined or overflowing margins
3) over stimulation of the market
4) A process (that is now illegal) of inflating a stock in order to sell it, and then backing out, causing the stock value to plummet
5) Poor investment decisions on the part of …show more content…

The market had lost over $30 billion in the span of two days which included $14 billion on October 29 alone setting in motion one of the most devastating periods in the history of the United States. The stock market crash crippled the American economy because not only had individual investors put their money into stocks, so did businesses. When the stock market crashed, businesses lost their money. Consumers also lost their money because many banks had invested their money without their permission or knowledge. People were buying stocks in anticipation of rising share prices. Rising share prices would simply bring more people into the markets, convinced that it was easy money. In mid-1929, the economy stumbled due to excess production in many industries, creating oversupply. Essentially, companies were able to acquire money cheaply due to high share prices and invest in their own production with the required optimism. By 1933 the value of stock on the New York Stock Exchange was less than a fifth of what it had been at its peak in 1929. Business houses closed their doors, factories shut down and banks failed. Farm income fell some 50 percent. By 1932 approximately one out of every four Americans was