I don't watch currencies in general. I watch the Yen-Dollar exchange rate. I've been puzzled by recent stories about the dollar going up in value, because it is definitely going down against the Yen.

I've also been puzzled by the reaction of gold & oil. It seems to me the dollar is dropping in absolute terms, just not as fast as Euro. It is notoriously difficult (impossible, really) to put an absolute value on a fiat currency. The closest thing is probably to use gold & oil. What I thought should have happened is that gold & oil stay relatively flat against the Yen, go up a bit against the dollar, and go up a lot against most other currencies.

That hasn't occurred. Since (like most people) I'm convinced I know more than the market when it comes to prices of things, it has led to some bad trades and a lot of cursing at the irrationality of the market (rational==agrees with me; irrational==does not agree with me).

There has been quite a bit of discussion about an apparent disconnect between "paper gold" prices and prices of real gold, if you can find it. The real gold is about double the price of the paper gold. See this CNBC Video showing Jurg Kiener, CEO of Swiss Asia Capital. He tells CNBC's Maura Fogarty & Rebecca Meehan that if the paper market collapses, gold prices may double very quickly.