by Calculated Risk on 8/17/2009 04:00:00 PM

First the market ...

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

The first graph shows the S&P 500 since 1990.

The dashed line is the closing price today.

The S&P 500 is up 44.8% from the bottom (303 points), and still off 37.4% from the peak (585 points below the max).

The S&P 500 first hit this level on Oct 7, 1997; almost 12 years ago.

Instead of comparing the markets from the peak (See: the Four Bad Bears), Doug Short matched up the market bottoms for four crashes (with an interim bottom for the Great Depression).

Note that the Great Depression crash is based on the DOW; the three others are for the S&P 500.

From Reuters: Guaranty bid deadline Tuesday, Corus Sept 3-sources

A U.S. regulator has extended a deadline to bid on Guaranty Financial Group assets to Tuesday, while bids for another troubled lender, Corus Bankshares Inc, are due Sept. 3, sources familiar with the situation said on Monday.

Guaranty Bank (Texas) had about $14.4 billion in assets as of Q1, and Corus had $7.6 billion. See the current Problem Bank List (unofficial).

These will be the 2nd and 4th largest failures of the year. Colonial had $25 billion in assets, and BankUnited had $12.8 billion in assets when they failed.