Dollar net short bets rise after Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief bill announcement

US dollar bearish bets inched up to $34.48 billion from $34.04 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 January 19 and released on January 22. The dollar sentiment was essentially unchanged with increase in bullish bets on euro almost balanced by decreases in Swiss franc, Canadian dollar and Japanese yen bullish bets as German economy shrank by 5% in 2020, slightly beating the -5.1% forecast. The increase in dollar bearish bets continued as President-elect Biden announced about $1.9 trillion new relief bill while the US Census Bureau reported retail sales declined 0.7% over month in December despite holiday shopping, after 1.4% drop in November, and 965 thousand Americans sought unemployment benefits over the prior week, up from 784 thousand the previous week.