Prices come tumbling down

Cheaper prices – yippee!!
Well, you might think that, but for poor old businesses falling prices are bad news. Less profit means less money to invest, and when you're not having much luck squeezing cash out of banks not being able to raise your prices is another slap in the financial face.
Today's headline-grabbing Retail Price Index shows one measure of inflation now in negative territory – in other words, the prices of a basket of everyday expenses is falling rather than rising.
The main reason is that this particular measure includes housing and mortgage costs, which have been dragged down for months now by rock-bottom interest rates. So it would be a mistake to think this means that the Dreaded Deflation Monster has taken hold on the basis of one headline cost.
Indeed, while RPI is now down at minus 0.4%, the other measure, the Consumer Price Index is still rising at 2.9% - though that's down from 3.2% a month ago.
The other point to remember about RPI – one that will put those lower prices in sober perspective – is that it is often used by businesses as the basis for calculating wage rises.
So the last thing you should do right now is march into the boss and ask for a wage rise in line with inflation.
He'd be delighted...