[Bostonian]

Historically, U.S. stock market returns have exceeded inflation substantially -- there is data at https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile... . Inflation can increase corporate profits in nominal terms, but usually it also leads to higher interest rates and lower price/earnings yields, as bonds become more competitive with stocks. I believe that after-inflation returns of stocks have tended to be highest when inflation is low but not negative.