Dollar short bets fell as Fed kept interest rates and bond purchases unchanged

US dollar bearish bets fell sharply to $29.95 billion from $34.40 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 February 2 and released on February 5. The dollar sentiment improved considerably with sharp drop in bullish bets on euro while bullish bets on Swiss franc, Canadian dollar and British Pound were much smaller as Germany’s retail sales plunged 9.6% over month in December after 1.1% increase a month earlier. The drop in dollar bearish bets was recorded despite Fed chair Powell’s highlighting of headwinds to the economic recovery - saying ‘we have not won this yet’, signaling that monetary policy will remain ultra-easy as Fed kept interest rates and bond purchases unchanged. However, US Labor Department reported 847 thousand Americans sought unemployment benefits over the last week, down from 914 thousand the previous week.