The Canadian dollar and fellow commodity bloc members were the only G10 currencies to finish lower against the downtrodden US dollar.

During the Asian trading session a coordinated round of central bank intervention, designed to weaken the Japanese yen, succeeded in pushing the rate down towards the 82 level against the USD.

Unemployment is still elevated, and house prices are still going down.

During Wednesday’s North American session the same ingredients were in play that produced the flash crash of May 6 last year - this time in a more slow-motion fashion, which in some respects is more ominous.

Over in Japan, they injected another 21 trillion yen into their economy.

The recent sell-off in the Australian dollar against the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen shows investors liquidating some holdings.

The Bank of Japan poured a record amount of cash into the financial system and doubled the size of its asset-purchase program to shield the economy from the effects of the nation’s strongest earthquake on record.

The weekly chart for the Nikkei 225 suggests that, as the tragedy in Japan unfolds further, the March 2009 lows in the proximity of 7000 could be tested.

Is the Great Correction over?

If the US dollar (DXY) remains under pressure, precious metals could be a major beneficiary.