June 2 (Bloomberg) -- For Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Plc, it’s increasingly as if Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. never collapsed.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows the two banks have recouped almost all their stock market declines since Lehman filed the biggest U.S. bankruptcy in history on Sept. 15. Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have also pared their losses. Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. have dropped 80 percent and 67 percent since the bankruptcy.

Lehman’s collapse triggered a rout in financial markets worldwide, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index down 41 percent in the following two months and forcing the U.S. government to spend $700 billion bailing out banks. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have applied to refund a combined $45 billion of government investments, which would be the biggest repayment to taxpayers since Lehman’s bankruptcy.

“JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Barclays have all emerged as the strong survivors,” said Richard Staite, a London-based analyst at Atlantic Equities LLP. “Liquidity has improved, interbank rates are down and lenders are repaying TARP. It’s another sign the financial system is getting back to normal.”

U.S. banks have posted $583 billion in writedowns, losses and credit provisions since the collapse of the suprime mortgage market in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

(To save a copy of the chart, click here.)

To contact the reporter for this story: Poppy Trowbridge in London at ptrowbridge@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 2, 2009 08:57 EDT