And prices in the Scandinavian countries, Italy, Ireland and the United States are nearing that level.

With prices nearing $600 for a top and $400 jeans, I doubt she needs a $12- to $20-an-hour job.

The price of crude oil neared $30 in mid-January, slipped and then rallied again last week.

Refinery outages and tight supplies have sent pump prices soaring by some 40 percent since January, and in some cities, the price is nearing $4.

But the dollar held close to 105 yen for most of the day, bolstered by rumors that the Bank of Japan was buying dollars in the open market whenever the price neared 104.50 yen.

The price jumped to seventy-seven, flew past seventy-eight, hit seventy-nine, and was nearing eighty by lunch.

By the early 1960s, the rising price of silver was nearing the point where the bullion value of U.S. silver coins would exceed face value.

C1 Concern Over Commodities A closely watched index of commodities rose to a 24-year high as the prices of crude oil, home heating oil and copper neared their record highs.

So as the price of oil neared $80 a barrel last year and gasoline exceeded $3 a gallon, it did not bring the economy to its knees, the way previous oil crises did.

When Mr. Deitch dropped out as the price neared $30 million, the competition continued between Mr. Agnew and the anonymous telephone bidder.