Oil Price in Real Dollars

Remember real dollars are the only way to make meaningful comparisons across time.

Gold Prices: Real v. Nominal

Since mid-August, New York gold futures have risen more than 42%. After finishing down at the early-afternoon close yesterday, they shot above Monday's record of $927.10 in later electronic trading...

Investors from Wall Street to Main Street are betting on what had long been a losing investment. After hitting $847 an ounce in January 1980, gold futures fell for almost 20 years, grinding down to $253 in August 1999, a 70% drop. Gold remained dull until 2001. Prices have more than tripled since then, but didn't exceed the 1980 record until this year...

To keep pace with inflation going back to 1980, gold futures would need to be above $2,228 today. Believers see that as a sign that gold has a lot of room to rise, and predict it will surpass the $1,000 mark this year.

from the WSJ

Despite begin in "record" territory, gold still has a long way to go to hit a true record.

Oil at All Time High (Nominal Dollars)

Oil prices finished at an all-time high above $89 a barrel Thursday, while the cost of a gallon of gasoline jerked higher.

Light, sweet crude for the November contract jumped $2.07 to settle at $89.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, shattering the previous record of $87.61 a barrel reached two days earlier....

Wednesday's news that Turkey had authorized military action in Northern Iraq also helped prop up crude prices.

Conflict along the Turkey-Iraq border could disrupt oil supplies coming out of the region and drive crude prices even higher.

"It's just a round robin of geopolitical and macroeconomic issues," said Kilduff.

Despite the recent gains in crude prices, when adjusted for inflation, oil is still slightly cheaper than the $95 a barrel or so it would have been in the early 1980s.

full article

Oil Hits An All-Time High (Nominal Dollars)

Oil prices turned higher Thursday, setting another record high over $80 a barrel, as Hurricane Humberto made landfall along the refinery-laden Texas coast.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose 9 cents to $80.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The electronic contract touched $80.20, breaking Wednesday's intraday record of $80.18....

Despite Wednesday's jump in crude prices, oil is still well below inflation-adjusted highs hit in early 1980. Depending on the adjustment, a $38 barrel of oil in 1980 would be worth $96 to $101 or more today...

read the full story

All Time High for Oil?

According to the media,

Oil near all-time high over $77

However, to make meaningful comparisons across time you must use real dollars, not nominal dollars.



So, while oil is high; it is no where near an all-time high.