Although the gold value of the dollar had been officially changed, the
dollar was still inconvertible into gold, and thus the major significance of
the dollar devaluation was with respect to the foreign exchange value of
the dollar, not to official gold movements. The speculative capital flows
of 1972 and early 1973 led to a further devaluation of the dollar in
February 1973, when the official price of an ounce of gold rose from $38to $42.22. Still, the speculative capital flows persisted from the weak to
the strong currencies. Finally, in March 1973, the major currencies began
to float.