Another day, another record high in oil. The latest of many scare stories is worrying about Chavez being named a terrorist and the US saying "No thanks" to Venezuelan oil (yeah right). Meanwhile, equities are getting a few reminders that perhaps all the bad news hasn't gone yet.

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Sorry guys, this isn't an expose on the latest half-dressed celeb getting out of a car, though there is a little something at the end of this blog. I decided to broaden my horizons and place a non-rugby bet on the land where men are men and sheep have a worried expression (no! New Zealand, not Wales).

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I wonder what bet size 1000 traders would have needed to get Sterling 200 pips lower. Cos that’s what 1000 bored people in the street managed.

This morning my screens greeted me with a chart of Sterling tanking off; by 7.15 it was already 80 pips from where I left it last night and by half-past nine the rate had dropped to $1.9550.

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Today’s been a thinking and watching day. After some of last week’s big moves I’m wary of jumping on the bandwagon. Equally, I’m not confident enough to go against the trend.

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I need to change my breakfast time. I tend to spend from 7 till just gone 8 at the desk; it's useful partly to catch up on the overnight news and views, but also to avoid the pre-school maelstrom. By quarter past eight it's usually safe to snatch a few Weetabix, but today it was a costly breakfast.

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Don’t worry, this isn’t another fly-on–the–wall look at Kerry Katona, or Amy Winehouse and the half-dozen blokes she’s ‘made friends with’ while hubby’s been locked up. And it’s not a sporting blog on why Newcastle United just don’t get on with their managers.

I’m taking a look at one of the steadiest relationships over the past year or so, the Dollar and the oil price. The link was so damned good it was almost mechanical, the Dollar fell, the oil price rose; simple.

But over the past couple of weeks the relationship has been as rock solid as Mr and Mrs Ashley Cole’s; the Dollar’s started to feel good about itself and has been going out on its own. The third party in this ménage a trois, gold, has been happy to play its part (If the Dollar was going to be the dominant party then gold would play the weaker role). By contrast, oil has got used to all the attention and doesn’t fancy giving it up for anyone.

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Morning Folks,

Today’s sunny start wasn’t confined to the big outdoors; the papers were full of it, and not just the Chelsea Echo. So, with Europe closed, and equity markets looking as dull as a James Blunt CD, I decided to have a scratch below the surface of this morning’s headlines.

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If you’ve picked up a paper this week you’ll have read that bulimia doesn’t make you lose weight, Gordon Brown is the one person less popular than Alistair Darling and, with apologies to Thin Lizzy, ‘the banks are back in town, the banks are back in town.’

Yep, we’ve had a whole print works of banking stories:

‘ Bank of England rescues banks’, ‘more banking write-downs’, ‘RBS to launch UK’s biggest ever rights issue’, ‘even more write downs’, ‘Bank of England expects others to follow RBS’, ‘further loan loss provisions’, ‘yet more write downs’. Phew! There was barely time to read about the Ronaldo penalty miss.

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So there I was down my local, having a quiet pint, when I felt this nudge in the back.

“Oi mate, what’s all this writing about gold malarkey? You should be writing about black gold, not the shiny stuff. It’s like doing a feature on whether Chelsea will win the Premiership next year whilst Man Yew are running away with the title this year. Get a grip!”

He had a point; since breaking the magical $100 mark back in February there’s been no sign of vertigo from the oil barons. People said it wouldn’t last, it was only a wild fling and that common sense would prevail. Yet the black stuff hit a record high on Wednesday, pushing above $115. So is this a bandwagon worth jumping on, or is it just about to run out of fuel?

But first, if you only think of oil as something you rub into your missus on a Sunday night, it might be worth having a glance at our beginners’ guide, A Cruder Way To Trade.

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Seeing President Sarkozy (and his tasty missus) over here last week reminded me that we haven’t touched on the old bling market for a while.

On the 17th March gold peaked at $1030; over the following three days it fell by over 12%. So, after rising to a level that confounded all but the most extreme optimists, is the precious metal following the ‘Grand Old Duke Of York’ theory and marching back down the hill again?

Or, as many in the business suggest, is this a healthy and much needed correction before a move onto bigger and better things?

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