Originally Posted by kknudson

And a HUGE jump in the value of the dollar had nothing to do with it ???

The currency market is WAY too large for speculators to manipulate and this is where people like Soros play with Billions.
Even combined central bank intervention (if you wish the governments doing what speculators do by your definition) rarely has a long term effect. The market moves to where it should be.

Look at the recent intervention in the Yen, governments pumped it up and it has returned to well, a little above where they started.

Speculators have some effect, mostly in the volatility, but not a lot in the long term price.