ANALYSIS-Oil price surge revives Wall Street fears of 1970s-style stagflation

Funds focused on commodities have notched $7.7 billion in inflows. Those inflows have come amid sharp price gains in raw materials that have benefited assets linked to commodity exporters such as Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia.

NEW YORK: With surging oil prices, concerns about the hawkishness of the Federal Reserve and fears of Russian aggression in Eastern Europe, the mood on Wall Street feels like a return to the 1970s. Other than bell-bottoms, the only thing missing so far is stagflation, which occurs when an economy experiences rising inflation and slowing growth at the same time.

Yet some investors now think that it is not far off.