In the stock market, there were two years that changed everything – and then just seven days.

Historians will define the pandemic era as starting in March 2020, and lasting until the final week of February 2022 when mask mandates ended and Russia invaded Ukraine. Stoked by central bank emergency quantitative easing, the giants of the S&P 500 surged to unheard of levels during this period. Even after the modest correction seen in early 2022, the index return (not including dividends) from early March 2020 to February 2022 was almost 60%, with a total increase in market capitalisation of $14 trillion.