Dollar bearish bets slid after Fed policy shift announcement

US dollar net short bets increase halted with total net shorts declining to $32.84 billion from $33.69 billion against the major currencies during the one week period, according to the report of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) covering data up to September 1 and released on Friday September 4. The decline in net short dollar bets was the result of mainly decline in bearish bets on Canadian dollar and decrease in bullish bets on euro after the GfK report its consumer climate index for euro-zone was weaker than expected. Dollar bearish bets slipped as the Federal Reserve announced a shift in policy framework. Policy makers would no longer pre-emptively hike interest rates to keep inflation just below 2%. And the Labor Department data showed that continuing claims fell slightly to 14.5 million while 1.01 million Americans filed for first-time benefits during the previous week. At the same time US orders for durable goods rose 11.2% in July, helped by a 22% surge in automobile demand.