During the 1920s, a rapid expansion took place in the U.S. stock market, reaching its highest point in August 1929, after a period of unmanageable speculation. By that time, there was a decrease in production and a rise in unemployment, causing stocks to be left in great excess of their actual value. Some other reasons for the eventual collapse were low wages, the proliferation of debt, an agricultural sector which was struggling and an excess of large bank loans that were impossible to liquidate. The stock market crash in 1929 eventually gave place to the Great Depression.