Cable prices have been on the up this side of the Atlantic too. In fact my local trade warehouse stopped printing prices in the main catalog (issued every 3 months) a year or more ago as the prices were changing too rapidly. They just insert flyer sheets now for cable prices.
I don;t have the current trade sheet to hand, but here's a price from one of the mail-order places (a little more expensive):
100-meter reel of 2.5 T&E (slightly larger than #14 AWG), £38.95, excluding tax.
That would work out to about $220 per 1000 ft. at the current exchange rate.
Edited for typo on wire size. [This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 07-24-2006).]