Five anonymised historical charts were dealt to every player. The Monkey Index returned +0.44% across the same tape.
53 desks completed all five charts.
Zero interest rates and pandemic fears had left life insurers stuck in the cellar all summer while tech ran away with the 2020 recovery. Buyers finally rotated back into the bruised financials just as Prudential's long summer base broke higher.
Washington was months away from launching the Medicare prescription drug overhaul, and health insurers were racing to sign up older Americans before the new market opened. Humana had bet its future on that government rollout, and buyers kept stepping in whenever the chart dipped.
Relentless American shale output was swamping OPEC's production cuts in the spring of 2017, leaving oil prices stuck in the mud and energy investors looking for the exits. ConocoPhillips spent the spring selling off heavy Canadian oil sands assets to pay down debt and reshape itself for a world of permanently cheap crude.
Rising interest rates and petrol prices had investors fretting over American consumer spending in the spring of 2006, dragging Nike down even as it geared up for a massive World Cup marketing battle with Adidas. The selling finally ran out of steam here, leaving the shares flat for the week before its new running and digital push began to win the street back over.
With Europe's debt crisis flaring up and Washington writing tough new rules to rein in Wall Street after the crash, traders spent the spring marking down even the strongest American lenders. JPMorgan had come through the crisis in better shape than any of its rivals, and the selling finally stalled here.