Although high oil prices might no longer be deemed newsworthy, it is still a shock to see the "real" oil price - deflated by the US consumer price index - at record levels, says Ian Harnett at Absolute Strategy Research.

"Whenever oil prices have accelerated rapidly during the last 40 years, global growth has slowed dramatically," says Mr Harnett. "The only hope is that the 'slow-grind' that has typified the current oil price rises has allowed more time to adjust, than did the 'shocks' that were seen in the 1970s."

The chief question for both the bond and equity markets is whether real oil prices normalise through the nominal oil price falling, or oil price pressures passing through into more generalised inflation. Typically, Mr Harnett says, the correction has come partly through a moderation in oil prices, but largely through headline and core consumer prices playing "catch-up".

"Already, double-digit wage growth in many emerging markets suggests that inflation pressures are spreading." He says an intriguing feature of the oil price spike is that it is close to a 40-year high against another dollar denominated inflation-hedge - gold.

"Only briefly - back in the late summer of 2005 - has an ounce of gold purchased fewer barrels of oil. We expect such a situation is unlikely to last for long . . . so it may be time to be long gold and short 'black gold'."