The U.S. financial system had been shaken to its core by the collapse of Lehman Brothers a few months earlier, plunging prices for stocks and a freeze-up in lending. That turned out to be the day the stock market bottomed out after that crisis, however, and the beginning of the current bull market, which is now the second-longest since World War II following a 10-year run that ended with the dot-com implosion in early 2000.
