Five anonymised historical charts were dealt to every player. The Monkey Index returned -0.24% across the same tape.
70 desks completed all five charts.
Tech layoffs were leading every bulletin and corporate budgets were supposed to freeze, leaving legacy hardware out in the cold. The enterprise orders held up, and the steady grind higher kept on rolling.
Surging rate volatility had traders scrambling to hedge their portfolios, turning autumn bond market chaos into record turnover for the futures desks. After weeks of grinding higher, the shares finally paused for breath.
The 2022 energy shock had handed the oil majors record windfalls, but crude prices were cooling and the market suspected peak earnings had passed. The pullback still had further to run.
Crude oil was in freefall and an autumn growth scare had investors rotating into dependable healthcare names for shelter. The recovery had already done the heavy lifting, and the shares quietly held their ground.
With the Fed steadily raising interest rates and high fuel costs squeezing power generators, defensive utility names spent late 2005 thoroughly out of favour. Heading into the Christmas break, sellers were mostly done, but nobody stepped up to buy.