The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index surged 1% today on positive news about a coronavirus treatment.

The S&P 500 roughly tracks with the progress of civilization, but progress is unpredictable and hard to see one day at a time.

Here's a snapshot depicting progress from a longer-term perspective: For the five years through June 30, 2020, the S&P 500 was No. 1 among the broadly diversified group of 13 asset classes listed here. Three months after the Covid crisis began, the U.S. stock market topped this long list of securities investments with a total return over the five years of 66.5%.