After the wrenching swings of late 2018 and early January, it was difficult to harbor many illusions about the stock market.

It became clear that investing in stocks wasn’t easy, predictable or safe, at least in the short run . If you weren’t a risk taker or deeply committed for the long term, it was difficult to look at the market closely and remain calm.

In fact, the long bull market had a near-death experience in December. Based on intraday trading, stocks descended just below the 20 percent-loss threshold that customarily denotes the birth of a bear market.

Counting only prices at the market close, however, the Dow Jones industrial average didn’t quite fall into that dismal territory. Still, despite a market rise in January, losses have been severe, especially in sectors that had been highfliers, like technology.