Business Maverick

Business Maverick

It Took 12 Years for the Crisis to End in U.S. Financial Stocks

Pedestrians walk through Times Square in New York, U.S., on Friday, April 26, 2019. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

One of the last vestiges of the financial crisis crumbled Thursday as financial stocks in the S&P 500 briefly surpassed their previous closing high, eclipsing the record they touched in February 2007 before losing more than 80% of their value in less than two years.

Banks, brokerages and insurance companies tracked by the S&P 500 Financials Index needed 12 years to make the round trip, which required a sixfold increase starting on March 6, 2009. They’re the last industry in the S&P 500 to erase their 2008-era decline.
Financial shares briefly top 2007 record

“What a long, strange trip it’s been,” said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Management in Pittsburgh. “The existing banks — because there’s a whole lot less banks than there were in 2007 — have survived and changed in meaningful ways, that’s what this reflects. They’ve shoehorned themselves into this low new interest rate environment.”

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

[%% img-description %%]

The Spy Bill: An autocratic roadmap to State Capture 2.0

Join Heidi Swart in conversation with Anton Harber and Marianne Merten as they discuss a concerning push to pass a controversial “Spy Bill” into law by May 2024. Tues 5 Dec at 12pm, live, online and free of charge.

A South African Hero: You

There’s a 99.8% chance that this isn’t for you. Only 0.2% of our readers have responded to this call for action.

Those 0.2% of our readers are our hidden heroes, who are fuelling our work and impacting the lives of every South African in doing so. They’re the people who contribute to keep Daily Maverick free for all, including you.

The equation is quite simple: the more members we have, the more reporting and investigations we can do, and the greater the impact on the country.

Be part of that 0.2%. Be a Maverick. Be a Maverick Insider.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options