An end to deflation can have a downside.

(From South China Morning Post)

Byline: Jake van der Kamp Jake.vanderkamp@scmp.com

I LIKE TO RUN the sorts of charts that have a single line going suddenly way up or way down to emphasise a point. Sometimes, however, it is not so easy to do and this is one of those times. My apologies if my charts today give you the impression of a knitting pattern gone wrong.

What we have here is evidence that the deflation from which we have suffered for more than five years is coming to an end. That evidence is the retail sales report for November, which shows no difference between the growth of sales by volume and by value. Calculate that difference as a …