Dollar bearish bets increase accelerated as US jobless numbers rose

US dollar net short bets increase continued at prior week’s pace with total net shorts reaching $18.82 billion from $16.66 against the major currencies during the one week period, according to the report of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) covering data up to July 21 and released on Friday July 24. The increase in net short dollar bets resulted mainly from significant decrease in bearish bets on Canadian dollar and increase in bullish bets on euro as European Central Bank kept its policy steady, as expected, while euro-zone’s current account surplus declined in May instead of an expected increase. Pound and Canadian dollar maintained net short positions against the dollar. The bearish dollar bets rose again as US Labor Department reported 1.3 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits when 1.24 new applications were expected in the prior week, while data showed retail sales rose 7.5% in June instead of 5.4% increase forecast.