Five anonymised historical charts were dealt to every player. The Monkey Index returned +0.00% across the same tape.
90 desks completed all five charts.
Credit rating agencies were taking the blame for the subprime crash and facing a wall of incoming regulation. Even with Washington circling, the post-crisis recovery kept grinding higher.
Rising Treasury yields in the 2018 rate scare had hammered defensive utilities, with investors ditching safe dividends for cash. The worst of the selling had already passed, and the shares spent the week quietly holding their ground.
The post-crisis rebound and the early smartphone boom had sparked a ferocious autumn run across the chip sector. After three months of relentless buying, this was the week the rally took a breather.
Lockdown demand was cooling and regulators were picking apart the Arm takeover, leaving the shares stuck in a cautious summer lull. Buyers absorbed the hesitation anyway, and the autumn turn was underway.
Semiconductor stocks were taking all the spoils from the artificial intelligence boom, leaving enterprise software under pressure to prove its subscriptions were not in trouble. Buyers found just enough footing to steady the slide.