COVID-19 did a number on the stock market -- several numbers, in fact.
From Jan. 1 to the market's bottom on March 23, the New York Stock Exchange Composite Index lost 37% of its value. True, the NYSE then rebounded in April, and has risen 48% through Wednesday's close -- but here's the funny thing about percentages:
If a $100 stock drops 37%, then rises 48% ... you might instinctively feel you should end up 11% ahead (because 48 minus 37 equals 11). But it doesn't work that way. In fact, your stock would be worth only $93 after that down-and-up cycle, and you'd still be 7% behind where you started -- just as the NYSE index is today.