<P> In August, the wheat price fell when France and Italy were bragging of a magnificent harvest, and the situation in Australia improved . This sent a shiver through Wall Street and stock prices quickly dropped, but word of cheap stocks brought a fresh rush of "stags", amateur speculators and investors . Congress had also voted for a 100 million dollar relief package for the farmers, hoping to stabilize wheat prices . By October though, the price had fallen to $1.31 per bushel . </P> <P> Other important economic barometers were also slowing or even falling by mid-1929, including car sales, house sales, and steel production . The falling commodity and industrial production may have dented even American self - confidence, and the stock market peaked on September 3 at 381.17 just after Labor Day, then started to falter after Roger Babson issued his prescient "market crash" forecast . By the end of September, the market was down 10% from the peak (the "Babson Break"). Selling intensified in early and mid October, with sharp down days punctuated by a few up days . Panic selling on huge volume started the week of October 21 and intensified and culminated on October 24, the 28th and especially the 29th ("Black Tuesday"). </P> <P> The president of the Chase National Bank said at the time: "We are reaping the natural fruit of the orgy of speculation in which millions of people have indulged . It was inevitable, because of the tremendous increase in the number of stockholders in recent years, that the number of sellers would be greater than ever when the boom ended and selling took the place of buying ." </P> <P> In 1932, the Pecora Commission was established by the U.S. Senate to study the causes of the crash . The following year, the U.S. Congress passed the Glass--Steagall Act mandating a separation between commercial banks, which take deposits and extend loans, and investment banks, which underwrite, issue, and distribute stocks, bonds, and other securities . </P>

Effects on the stock market crash of 1929