NEW YORK - Gasoline prices were on the verge of another record, having surged to within half a cent of their record high of $3.227 a gallon. Oil prices, meanwhile, raced above $108 to an inflation-adjusted record and their fifth new high in the last six sessions on an upbeat report on wholesale inventories.

The national average price of a gallon of gas rose 0.7 cent overnight to $3.222 a gallon on Monday, 69 cents higher than one year ago, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. In May, prices peaked at $3.227 as surging demand and a string of refinery outages raised concerns about supplies.

That record will likely be left in the dust soon as gas prices accelerate toward levels that could approach $4 a gallon, though most analysts think prices will peak below that psychologically significant mark. In its last forecast, released last month, the Energy Department said prices will likely peak at $3.40 a gallon this spring.

A new forecast is due today.

In the Triangle the average pump price was $3.21, up 25 cents in a month, according to AAA.

Retail gas prices are following crude oil, which has jumped 25 percent in a month. Crude prices surged to another record Monday after the Commerce Department said wholesale sales rose 2.7 percent in January, their biggest increase in four years, Dow Jones Newswires said.

The strong sales report suggested to oil traders that the struggling economy may be doing better than thought.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose $2.75 to settle at a record $107.90 on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier setting a trading record of $108.21.

Energy investors shrugged off a relative stabilization of the dollar and a cooling in tensions between Venezuela and its neighbors Colombia and Ecuador.

Many analysts think speculative investing attracted by the weak dollar is the primary reason that oil has risen so quickly in recent months. Crude futures offer a hedge against a falling dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the dollar is falling.

"We've got a Fed meeting on the 18th that could see a sizeable rate cut," said analyst Brad Samples with Summit Energy Services in Louisville, Ky. "So it's not over."

While the dollar rose against the euro Monday, many investors think the greenback is likely to keep falling as the Fed continues to cut rates.

Many analysts think the rise in crude prices is not supported by the market's underlying fundamentals, noting that supplies are generally rising while demand is falling.

"By gobbling up everything in sight, [investors] ... "are pushing food and fuel prices to ruinously high levels," said Peter Beutel, president of the energy risk management firm Cameron Hanover, in a research note.