What you're not hearing about inflation-adjusting the equity market (or not)

Wage earning consumers are distressed that their earnings have only slightly exceeded inflation since the pandemic. Inflation has taken away most of the equity market gains from 2022, but investors are so focused on excellent year-to-date performance in nominal terms they fear we are in a bubble, or at least that there can't be any upside from here. Even in nominal terms, the S&P 500 experienced no gains at all across 2022 (a bad year) and 2023 (a perfectly offsetting good year). So over two-and-a-half years, all equity gains are explained by just the last six months. When inflation-adjusted, the cumulative gains since 2022 are near zero. The S&P 500 in real terms only broke even about two weeks ago. With disinflation continuing, consumers and equity investors are both probably too pessimistic about the room for further improvement.