The market's downtrend underway since early February was quelled last week, but not decisively. Some of the indices were able to fight their way back above technical resistance. Others were not.

By the time things cooled off near the end of the day, the buyers were backing off. The S&P 500 ended Monday's session with a small loss.

A week ago, it looked like stocks had a fighting chance at rekindling the then-struggling bull market. Last week's rout changed everything.

After three weeks of selling, stocks finally caught a break. The S&P 500 gained 1.9% last week, stepping back from the brink of a technical breakdown at the last possible moment. The market's not quite back in a full-blown uptrend just yet, though.

Stocks continued to lose ground last week, with the S&P 500 sliding 2.7% over the course of the holiday-shortened week. And yet, the recovery effort that got going near the end of last year is still intact.

The market under Biden's been a little bit different than usual.