Gold and oil, the poster children of the commodity bull market, are at odds with one another.
Because they respond similarly to inflationary pressures, gold and oil generally move in tandem. Over the last 25 years, one ounce of gold has been able to buy, on average, about 15 barrels of oil. Right now, however, one ounce of gold will buy you just seven barrels of oil, less than half its traditional purchasing power.
In 2000, 2005 and now 2008 is a time when 1 oz of gold would buy only 7 barrels of oil. After the other 2 times in 2000 and 2005 gold's value increased over 10% when this event occurred within a 3 months time period.
Also during these times, gold has outperformed oil by an average of 8% over the following three months. So if you don't own any gold, now is a good time to pick some up.