Five anonymised historical charts were dealt to every player. The Monkey Index returned -0.04% across the same tape.
88 desks completed all five charts.
The 2008 financial crisis had markets in freefall, and the consensus was that search advertising would not survive a proper recession. This was the week buyers finally pushed back.
Washington had just opened antitrust investigations across Big Tech, but digital ad revenue was still compounding undisturbed. The summer rebound absorbed the headlines and held its ground.
Fresh US tariffs had just hit and chipmakers were pausing factory expansions, convincing the market that semiconductor equipment was headed for a deep freeze. Sellers were not done yet.
A mid-2006 inventory slump had investors treating steady analog chipmakers like dull cyclical plumbing. The slide still had a few days left in it.
Capital was chasing lockdown tech and the weight-loss boom was still years away, leaving big pharma stuck in a sleepy summer drift. The shares are up 736.9% since, but this week sellers quietly kept the upper hand.