The endpoints of a stimulus-fueled market are being defined.

Why it matters: Conditions that drove excess pricing in riskier assets are steadily being removed, and big swings in the market like those seen today are inevitable as investors try to adjust to the new landscape.

Stocks suffered their steepest drop of the year early Monday, putting the S&P 500 on course for its worst-ever start to a year.

Driving the news: The benchmark S&P 500 dropped for its fifth straight day, with losses nearing 3% in early trading, momentarily putting it on track to fall into a "correction." Some of the steepest losses were recovered in early afternoon trading.

Tech stocks are bearing the brunt of the current sell-off — and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index officially slipped into a correction after another decline on Wednesday.

Why it matters: A correction is a term of art Wall Street applies to a sell-off that pushes prices down 10% from a recent high. It’s a shorthand way of describing a market drop that’s more serious than your run-of-the-mill dip.

Bausch + Lomb, a Canadian maker of contact lenses and eyecare products, filed for an IPO.

Why it matters: This could be the first mega-IPO of 2022, with Renaissance Capital estimating that the issuer could raise up to $3 billion.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) plans to introduce his own bill to prevent members of Congress from trading stocks, while Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) teams up with fellow Democrat Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Axios has learned.

Why it matters: This means there will be now be two similar bills to ban stock trades individually championed by two vastly different lawmakers—further complicating the effort to pass a stock trading ban this session.

AMC Entertainment’s apes helped provide a lifeline — more than $1 billion in equity issuance — that’s kept the movie theater operator out of bankruptcy.

The big question: Whether that help extends to the debt market.

Walgreens increased profit projections for the rest of its fiscal year due to surging demand for at-home COVID-19 tests, drive-thru tests and vaccinations amid the latest outbreaks.

The big picture: Pharmacy chains continue to reap massive financial gains from the pandemic, as they often serve as the first place people go when they need a COVID test or vaccine.

If 2021 was the big year for the swarm of at-home traders banding together, 2022 will be the big test for whether they stick around or abandon ship.

Why it matters: The wildest trading phenomenon in recent memory ushered in big changes that have — so far — had a lasting impact.

The S&P 500 recorded 70 closing highs in 2021, according to S&P Global. That's the most for a single year since 1995's 77.

The big picture: The index, widely considered a proxy for the broader market, has recorded at least 10 closing highs every year since 2013.

“Supply chain,” “inflation” and “variant” were among the new top words mentioned at least once on Wall Street calls this year, according to an analysis of transcripts by Sentieo, a research firm.

Why it matters: All the chatter about bottlenecks, rising prices and variant spread that led to more factory shutdowns is another sign of just how big of a headache it was for corporate America (and consumers) this year.