Goldman Sachs was not one of those traders. And the firm didn’t do any ‘betting’, oh dear me no: what Goldman did was talk up and buy big. This isn’t betting, it’s knobbling the favourite, and giving the 20-1 outsider a quick burst of steroids . And that’s why the previous paragraph’s summary is almost certainly misleading.

This last week’s trading in the Euro involved a lot of coal-dark and highly liquid pools of buying and selling – and that’s just how those wishing to directionalize like it, because afterwards nobody can really say which way was up. But these three irrefutable facts remain:

1. Against the thoughts of almost everyone else on the planet, Goldman’s Jim O’Neill and Dominic Wilson began being bullish about the Euro the Friday before last – and throughout the following weekend. The only bloke doing the same thing was Jean-Claude Trichet: but his agenda at least was hanging out the window with a large EU flag on it.

2. Even as Angela Merkel’s short-selling ban scared the crap out of everyone – and was almost universally panned as a maverick desperation measure – the Euro inexplicably began to rise against most major currencies. The Swiss (who expected their Franc to soar upwards) were somewhat surprised that only minimal selling was required to maintain a fall that was already happening.

3. After twenty-four hours of this – with synchronised precision – the Euro resumed its fall. But then (after four hours of that) it bounced again. On both the first rise and the second bounce, the whole world and its mother lost a shirt or two.

What happened then, it seems, is that things wobbled, swerved, rallied, plunged and settled. And as the fat lady sang, you can bet your sweet bippy that Goldman Sachs was way ahead of the crowd. But was this good foresight? Or was there some self-fulfilment of the prophecy going on?

I’d bet the farm that Goldman didn’t expect Merkel to be quite that barmy – to think so would be a conspiracy theory too far-fetched to take seriously. But for me, the biggest of several enigmas is why (at that time of all times) Merkel’s brainstorm produce a rise in the EU’s currency.

I suggest we all look at Goldman’s daily profitability – which 63-day bull run they’ve been heralding a lot of late – in an effort to help explain this odd ‘market’ behaviour.