Five anonymised historical charts were dealt to every player. The Monkey Index returned +0.03% across the same tape.
46 desks completed all five charts.
The 2018 rate scare had rattled the market, and surging raw material costs had investors bracing for a margin crunch across home improvement. The sell-off ran out of road this week, but neither side was ready to make the next move.
Wall Street was still picking through the wreckage of the credit crisis, and even with the market off its lows, nobody trusted a bank rally to last. The ferocious spring bounce took a brief pause.
A stubborn freight recession and high interest rates had the market convinced heavy engine makers were stuck in the slow lane. Sellers took the week, but the broader advance was only pausing for breath.
Cigarette volumes were in steady decline and the street had written big tobacco off as dead money, good only for a dividend cheque. This is the week the defensive buyers quietly took over.
Crude had collapsed over the winter and investors were crowding into clean-power utilities, convinced the steady dividend trade was the safest place on the board. This is the week the buyers finally blinked.