Today's inflation figures show what a bind George Osborne is in as he puts the finishing touches to tomorrow's Budget. The rates of increase in both measures of inflation are moderating, but not by very much. The idea that inflation would slow down sharply once last year's food, energy and VAT rises dropped out the calculation has proved over-optimistic. Not only is inflation taking a long time to moderate, it's also well ahead of average wage settlements - and well ahead of interest rates. You can see the effect of that on investment trust discounts - for those sectors offering high yields, discounts have in many cases disappeared altogether and been replaced by premiums as investors chase income. Many cash Isas, too, are offering poor rates, although as competition usually hots up at this time of year, there are some interesting products around, as Moira O'Neill has found - and it's much quicker and easier to transfer a cash Isa than it used to be. With such meagre returns on offer elsewhere, it's vital that investors take full advantage of what they can control, such as costs. We look at what's on offer in self-select Isas - with so many offers and charging structures, it's more important than ever that you match your Isa platform to your investment style. More's the pity that you can't put Aim shares in an Isa, since Nautical Petroleum, which had results yesterday, looks a Krak-ing (you'll have to read the story to comprehend that feeble joke) opportunity. If you want a strong recovery story on the main market instead, take a look at Metalrax - with low debt and markets improving, its shares look a steal. Last week, we looked in some detail at the prospects for gold - and one of the conclusions we reached was that gold is only loosely correlated with 'fear', as measured by the CBOE volatility index (Vix). Few people love a correlation (or lack of one) as much as our economics and behavioural finance guru Chris Dillow, who has concluded that gold is actually much better correlated with uncertainty. How do you measure uncertainty...erm, I'm not sure! One thing I do know is that we had an inkling that US technology giant Apple might start returning capital when we advised buying the shares last year at $376; it was the late Steve Jobs who was adamantly against it. Now Apple has confirmed it will pay dividends and buy back stock - and the share price is over $600. That's an astonishing rise for such a large company in such a short time.
