With two years now having past since the collpase of Lehman Brothers, it is actually amazing how far the equity market has come since that Monday morning when the entire economy seemed to be on the brink. In the table below, we highlight how far the market and each of the ten major sectors declined from their pre-Lehman closing levels to their 2009 lows. We then calculated how much each sector has rallied from the lows up until now. Finally, we also looked to see how much further the S&P 500 and each of its ten sectors would have to rally to get back to their pre-Lehman levels.
Amazingly, two sectors (Consumer Discretionary and Technology) are already trading back above their pre-Lehman levels, while the S&P 500 needs to rally less than 12% to reach that milestone. Financials have seen the sharpest rally off the lows with a gain of over 140%, but they have the furthest road to hoe as the sector still needs an additional rally of 43% before they can put the pain of the financial crisis behind them.
When we first called for a rebound in equity prices back to their pre-Lehman levels back in June of 2009, to say our view was met with skepticism from clients would be an understatement. We remember one client literally spitting out his soup when we first raised the idea to him. Since then, however, a lot has changed, and just as it does in life, time seems to heal all wounds.
The Miracle of Time: Lehman Two Years Later -- Seeking Alpha