From its all-time closing high two weeks earlier, investors on Friday had corrected their valuation of stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 index by 11.8% before rallying about 3% and closing at 2619.55.

From the all-time closing high of 2872.87 on Friday, Jan. 26 to Friday's low at 1:39 p.m. EST of 2532, stocks had more than met the definition of a "correction" and the plunge entered financial history books.

It's understandable that investors have revalued stocks. Upward revisions recently made to an already extraordinary earnings growth made some investors giddy.