Dollar bearish bets rose as Fed held rates steady

US dollar net short bets increased again reaching $29.97 billion from $26.55 billion against the major currencies during the four-day period, according to the report of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) covering data up to December 21 and released on Monday December 28. The deterioration in dollar sentiment was reflected in increase in bullish bets on Canadian dollar, euro, yen , Swiss franc and Australian dollar as euro-zone private sector activity decline almost halted in December evidenced by the flash euro-zone composite PMI reading which came in at above expected 49.8 in December, up from 45.3 in November. The increase in dollar bearish bets resumed as the Federal Reserve emphasized 0% interest rates through 2023 and the US retail sales fell by a bigger-than-expected 1.1% over month in November. At the same time manufacturing sector expansion slowing in December was less pronounced than expected: the flash manufacturing PMI ticked down to 56.5 from 56.7 instead of 55.9 as forecast.