How well (or poorly) has the stock market been performing? It all depends on how you measure. When measured in US dollars, the Dow currently trades 19.2% off its all-time record highs of October 2007. However, when measured with that other world currency (gold), the picture is more dismal. To help illustrate the point, today’s chart presents the Dow divided by the price of one ounce of gold. This results in what is referred to as the Dow / gold ratio or the cost of the Dow in ounces of gold. For example, it currently takes 12 ounces of gold to “buy the Dow.” This is considerably less that the 44.8 ounces back in the year 1999. When priced in gold, the US stock market has been in a bear market for the entire 21st century.