New York

GOLD, the ultimate inflation hedge, isn't much use to investors these days.

Oil is in a bear-market freefall that began in June, spearheading the longest commodity slump in at least a generation. The collapse means that instead of the surge in consumer prices that gold buyers have been expecting for much of the past decade, the US is "disinflating", according to Bill Gross, who used to run the world's biggest bond fund.