Five anonymised historical charts were dealt to every player. The Monkey Index returned -0.19% across the same tape.
72 desks completed all five charts.
A surging dollar was chewing through multinational earnings, leaving defensive consumer staples with very little shelter from the grind. Sellers were not done yet.
Spiking energy costs and supply chain snarls had investors convinced the post-lockdown chemicals boom was already over. This was the week the selling dried up and bargain hunters stepped in.
A bruising regulatory probe into broker commissions had knocked the sector flat, and most of the street assumed the big insurance houses were dead money. After three months of grinding sideways, the sellers had finally run out of steam.
The vaccine rollout had powered a huge reopening trade across aviation, but by mid-summer the easy bounce was spent and fresh travel nerves were setting in. Anyone looking for a second wind got another week of drift.
The post-vaccine reopening trade had money pouring into old-economy cyclicals, and freight rail sat right at the front of the queue. After months of steady climbing, this was the week the rally paused for breath.