U.K. inflation unexpectedly fell to its lowest in 2 1/2 years in June as clothing prices plunged, helping to vindicate the central bank’s increase in emergency stimulus this month. Consumer prices rose 2.4 percent from a year earlier, the least since November 2009 and down from a 2.8 percent gain in May, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. No change in the rate was forecast, according to the median of 27 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. From May, prices fell 0.4 percent, the biggest June decline since records began in 1996. The Bank of England added 50 billion pounds to its asset- purchase ... (full story)