An unusual Fed ‘rate check’ triggered a freefall in the U.S. dollar and investors are fleeing into gold

The U.S. dollar has been in relative freefall since late Friday after it emerged that the New York Federal Reserve had conducted a rare “rate check” with currency traders on the dollar/Japanese yen exchange rate.

The purpose of the move implies that the U.S. Federal Reserve may be considering coordinated action with the Bank of Japan to support the latter’s currency. 

As a result, traders began selling the dollar, which is now down more than 2.26% over the last five days against...