Daily News, New York, Wall Street column.

By Tom Van Riper, Daily News, New York Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Jan. 15--INFLATION IS STILL not ready to bite -- at least not yet.

Falling energy costs drove wholesale prices down 0.7 percent in December, according to the Labor Department's Producer Price Index, as businesses failed to pass along higher prices to consumers.

Last month's drop in energy prices, just over 4 percent, was the biggest since April 2003. Leaving energy aside, prices rose just a modest 0.1 percent during the month.

And even though oil prices have begun rallying again in January, "there are lots of reasons why inflation won't suddenly spike," said …