Five anonymised historical charts were dealt to every player. The Monkey Index returned -0.02% across the same tape.
59 desks completed all five charts.
Markets spent early 2016 bracing for a recession that never arrived, and steady domestic hiring carried payroll names right out of the February selloff. After two months of chasing the bounce, the buyers paused for breath.
Talk of a double-dip recession was still lingering across late 2010, leaving investors sceptical that heavy manufacturing had real legs. The push into year-end simply carried on.
Half the street still viewed the business as an expensive charity for consumers, pouring every penny of profit into warehouses while cloud computing was barely understood. Buyers looked straight through the margin worries, and the steady grind higher kept going.
Gold had just suffered its worst annual crash in decades, and nobody wanted to touch the miners while the wider equity rally was roaring. Even after a grinding winter slide, sellers were not done.
The early 2016 commodity slump had half the street convinced industrial demand was drying up, but the spring recovery arrived fast. After three months of one-way traffic, the rally finally paused for breath.