Five anonymised historical charts were dealt to every player. The Monkey Index returned +0.13% across the same tape.
97 desks completed all five charts.
The brutal late-2018 sell-off had left tech investors badly shaken, with widespread fear that the cloud software boom had peaked. Instead, enterprise budgets held firm and the recovery found its stride.
The early 2016 market scare had investors piling into steady utility dividends for shelter. As the wider panic began to ease, the defensive trade took a breather.
With the eurozone debt crisis keeping markets on edge, capital kept piling into boring consumer staples with reliable pricing power. The spring rally was already looking stretched, but buyers were in no mood to step aside.
The 2008 financial crisis was tearing through Wall Street, but cash-strapped shoppers made discount retail the ultimate safe harbour. While the rest of the market unravelled, the shares held their ground.
An oil crash and fears over China had dragged heavy industry into a mini-recession, convincing investors that global manufacturing had further to fall. The wider market had just bottomed in February, and this rebound was built to last.