With the 10-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers coming up at the weekend we thought it would be an interesting exercise to look at which of the major global indices have performed best since perhaps the defining moment in the financial crisis
Investment bank Lehman filed for bankruptcy on 15 September 2008. With more than $600bn in assets it was the largest bankruptcy in US history and raised fears that the entire global financial system could collapse.
Stock markets around the world fell sharply amid news of Lehman’s fall. With four of the FTSE 100’s largest one-day falls on record coming in the month after the bankruptcy filing.
| Index | % change since close on 15 Sep 2008 |
| Nasdaq 100 | 339 |
| S&P 500 | 142 |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 138 |
| FTSE 250 | 134 |
| DAX Xetra | 99.4 |
Source: SharePad, 13 Sep 2018
Perhaps unsurprisingly the US, which had essentially led the world into the financial crisis thanks to the sub-prime mortgage disaster, has helped lead the recovery.
The stand-out performance of the technology-weighted Nasdaq 100 has been driven by the surging share prices of the likes of Apple, Amazon and Facebook over this period, with their profit piling up as they have become increasingly integral to everyday life.
The UK’s mid cap index has performed strongly, reflecting the fact that this grouping of companies often have more room to grow than their larger counterparts.
The strong performance of Germany’s DAX index is likely to be a function, at least in part, the export-driven growth achieved by Europe’s largest economy.
