Five anonymised historical charts were dealt to every player. The Monkey Index returned +0.09% across the same tape.
58 desks completed all five charts.
The late-2018 rate scare had hammered expensive medical tech, but robotic surgery bounced back the moment the panic cleared. After a relentless climb out of the winter lows, the shares spent this week catching their breath.
Cheap natural gas had spent 2012 gutting coal shipments, convincing much of the market that US freight rail was in for a long winter. The wider industrial recovery had other ideas, and buyers were not done yet.
A brutal hurricane season had rattled insurers across the sector, but brokers were already profiting from a sudden surge in corporate premiums. The strong autumn climb held its ground, but neither buyers nor sellers could break the deadlock.
The post-lockdown freight boom had order books full, but severe chip shortages were leaving half-built trucks stranded in factory lots. With supply chains tangled, sellers were not done.
Lingering post-crisis nerves kept investors cautious about consumer spending, but the steady shift from cash to plastic was already turning the card networks into unstoppable tollbooths. After a relentless run to start the year, the shares simply held their ground.