14 September 2007: Northern Rock triggers Britain's first bank run in generations
The Bank of England announced emergency funding for Northern Rock, a mortgage lender that had relied heavily on short-term wholesale markets that had frozen. Instead of calming savers, the news sent them queuing outside branches to withdraw cash, the first run on a British bank in well over a century. The government guaranteed deposits, but Northern Rock was nationalized in early 2008.
The lesson: A bank funded by short-term money can fail quickly when lenders lose their nerve.
What it meant for investors
$1,000 in FTSE 100 at the start of 2007 → $1,565 today, vs $4,789 in the S&P 500.
We start the clock at the start of 2007, the year it happened. That is 1.6 times the money, but $3,224 less than a plain index fund made over the same years.
What FTSE 100 teaches: When an index pays high dividends, its price chart tells only half the story, and comparing price indices across countries can mislead badly.
| Bought in | Price then | Worth today | S&P 500 would be |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | $6,200 | $1,565 | $4,789 |
| 2008 | $6,400 | $1,516 | $4,626 |
| 2010 | $5,400 | $1,796 | $6,071 |
green = beat the S&P 500 · red = lost money
What if you bought FTSE 100? Every starting year and the full story →
More FTSE 100 history
- 24 June 2016: Britain votes for Brexit and markets panic
- 7 July 2005: London bombings, and a market that held its nerve
- 21 September 1931: Britain leaves the gold standard
Could you have called it at the time? The wheel picks the year, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick.
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