The New York Times developed a great interactive graph (How the Giants of Finance Shrank, Then Grew, Under the Financial Crisis) that shows how the financial services market, and its major players, shrank and then grew over the past year. The numbers are pretty scary, with the top players shrinking from $1.86 trillion in market cap on 10/9/08 at the peak, to $284 billion on 3/9/09 at the trough, and then back up to $947 billion on 9/11/09.
I took the data from the interactive graph and created a simpler chart that tells most of the story in an easier to digest manner, using Mekko Graphics. The stacked bar shows how each of the six largest players shrank and then grew. For some, especially AIG, the change in both directions was dramatic. Goldman Sachs, however, came through this relatively unscathed.
I used data rows to put the chart data in perspective. They show how much the financial services sector changed in total market cap and as a percentage of the total stock market value.
Here is the chart in slideshare for viewing and downloading:
Nice graphics! Let's the hope the recovery is "V-shaped," rather than "M-shaped..."
Posted by: Mike Gil | September 16, 2009 at 08:56 PM
That's my hope as well. It seems that President Obama and Mr. Bernanke think we're on the upslope of the V. I'm rooting for them to be right.
Posted by: David Goldstein | September 17, 2009 at 09:15 AM