Five anonymised historical charts were dealt to every player. The Monkey Index returned -0.39% across the same tape.
72 desks completed all five charts.
A resurgent Adidas was clawing back market share and basketball sneaker hype was cooling, prompting the first real questions about whether Nike's untouchable era had peaked. Even after three months of drifting sideways, sellers were not done.
Two years into the post-crisis recovery, much of the market still viewed industrial conglomerates as sluggish cyclicals, but Danaher was busy perfecting the art of the bolt-on acquisition. The steady grind higher barely lost a step.
Near-zero interest rates had choked off brokerage cash margins for years, leaving the market waiting endlessly for the Federal Reserve to lift off. The drift lower stopped here, but buyers were in no hurry to chase it.
The 2018 rate scare was tearing through big tech, and the autumn rout had abruptly shattered the market's faith in runaway growth. Anyone looking for a floor in Amazon found sellers were not done yet.
Crude oil was pushing towards record highs and refining capacity had hit a wall, turning unglamorous fuel processors into unlikely market darlings. After a steep run through the spring, the buyers were simply catching their breath.