SPDR S&P 500 (SPY)

[2H2]

Today, on December 31, 1929:

The New York Stock Exchange hosts its annual New Year's Eve party right on the trading floor, with the 369th Infantry Band blaring its bells and horns a full hour-and-a-half before the close of trading.

Drunken brokers blowing whistles and whirling noisemakers stagger around the Exchange floor, and the racket can be heard all the way over on Broadway, two city blocks away.

The brokers are celebrating two things: the prevailing belief that "it" (the market crash) is over, and the fact that high trading volume, even in a falling market, has made them rich.

They will learn soon enough that their celebration is uncalled for as the S&P 500 drops 86%+ over the next 2 years.