Five anonymised historical charts were dealt to every player. The Monkey Index returned +0.34% across the same tape.
78 desks completed all five charts.
Old-guard enterprise software was supposed to be left behind by the cloud, but corporate customers were nowhere near ready to ditch their databases. The sharp summer rally had already proved the sceptics wrong, and the grind higher simply carried on.
Investors had spent the spring treating rubbish collection as a bulletproof shelter, crowding into defensive cash flows until valuations were stretched to the limit. This is the week the safe-haven trade cracked.
The Taper Tantrum had sent bond yields climbing, and investors spent months dumping reliable dividend plays in fear of rising interest rates. This is the week the slide finally stalled.
A brutal winter had delayed the spring home improvement rush, convincing half the street that the post-crisis housing recovery was stalling out. This is the week the buyers stepped back in.
The first lockdowns had halted routine surgery, handing health insurers an artificial windfall while the market tried to price the true cost of the pandemic. That spring recovery carried well into June, but this was the week the buyers ran out of road.