The S&P 500 crashed more than 50% during the 2008/2009 Great Financial Crisis. March 6 marked the S&P 500’s eight-year anniversary of its 2009 intraday low of 666. Three days later, the index put in its closing low of 676.63.
The sell-off prompted then newly elected President Barrack Obama to make one of the greatest stock market calls of all-time. On March 3, 2008, Obama told America, “What you’re now seeing is profit-and-earnings ratios are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you’ve got a long-term perspective on it.”
Since then, the S&P 500 has recovered all of its losses from the financial crisis, and then some. The eight-year long rally has tacked on almost 250%, rallying to a record high of 2400.58 on March 1, 2017.
The canvas pictured below is a reminder of just how scary and confusing the times were as the world became familiar with terms like mortgage-backed securities and derivatives.