The Wall Street Crash

The Wall Street Crash
A good way of making money during the
1920 was to buy stock and shares
 Their prices constantly went up
(salivano) > investors kept them for a
short period and then sold them at a good
profit
 Stocks and shares were often bought
(comprate) on the margin, that is
(cioè) on credit
 Therefore (perciò) it was easy for
investors to make money

On September 3 the stock market
reached an all time high (record
storico) but in the weeks that followed
prices began todecline
 On October 24 around 13,000,000 shares
were sold (furono vendute)
 Consequently (di conseguenza) prices
fell (si abbassarono) because sellers
tried to find people who wanted to buy
their shares
 So many shares were now under-priced

But people continued to buy shares
(16,000,000 were sold).
 However (tuttavia), the market had
lost (aveva perso) 47 per cent of its
value
 Signs of the Great Depression > people
needed (avevano bisogno) at least
2,000 dollars a year to live and 60% of
US families earned less than this
 The very rich lost money and the majority
of people had serious economical
problems. In fact they could not buy
consumer goods

No buying meant (significava) that
shops went bust (fallirono)
 Unemployment (la disoccupazione)
grew (cresceva) more and more
because companies were forced (furono
costrette) to close
