Greenspan: US deflation threat over

WASHINGTON: Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said on Tuesday US companies are regaining the power to raise prices and that a long period of worry about deflation was over, fanning market worries about rate rises. 

“It’s fairly apparent that pricing power is gradually being restored and, as I’ll indicate tomorrow, threats of deflation, which were a significant concern last year, by all indications, are no longer an issue for us,” Greenspan said in answer to questions from lawmakers before the Senate Banking Committee.