By Rachel Beck
The Associated Press

NEW YORK - All those cheap deals everyone has gotten so used to in recent years may slowly become harder to find now that corporate America seems finally to be regaining some ability to raise prices.

That doesn't mean prices will race through the roof. But some new data indicate that for the first time in a long while companies aren't feeling as pressed to keep their prices as low on everything from apparel to computer systems.

This is actually good news - though their consumers may disagree. It's just the jolt the economic recovery needs right now to keep it going.

"Pricing power is coming back, which will give companies higher earnings and allow them to hire more people," said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo & Co. in Minneapolis. "And increased hiring will be the key and final indication that sustainable economic growth is here."

It's not that there are cheers for prices to soar. Inflation right now is considered quite tame - around 2 percent to 2.5 percent.

But some lift in prices could ward off the possibility of deflation.

When deflation takes hold, prices fall and consumers stop spending because they think even better deals are on the way. Then businesses make even deeper price cuts to attract customers, which eat away at profits. A destructive cycle can take hold.

That's why recent reports showing some firming of prices are important to note.

The October survey of about 100 manufacturers by Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia showed that about 17 percent of companies are seeing an increase in the prices they get for their goods versus 9 percent last spring.

There are even some gains showing up in industries that have been plagued by deflationary pressures. What consumers pay for clothing, for instance, rose 0.5 percent in September, according to the Labor Department.