US dollar net short bets decrease accelerated to $7.67 billion from $9.07 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 May 19 and released on Friday May 22. The change in overall dollar position was mainly due to significant increase in bearish bets on Canadian and Australian dollars as well as British Pound, and decrease in bullish bets on euro, while bullish bets on Swiss franc increased. Once again the Pound, Canadian and Australian dollars maintained net short positions against the dollar. The bearish dollar bets declined as Federal Reserve chair Powell warned not to ‘bet against American economy’ as the Fed is ‘Not out of ammunition.’ Bearish bets on dollar declined despite US Labor department report showing nearly 36.5 million Americans lost their jobs in the previous eight weeks. A Department of Commerce report US retail sales decline accelerated in April also didn’t result in increase in dollar bearish bets.
CFTC Sentiment vs Exchange Rate
| May 19 2020 | Bias | Ex RateTrend | Position $ mln | Weekly Change |
| CAD | bearish | negative | -2512 | -221 |
| AUD | bearish | positive | -2583 | -289 |
| EUR | bullish | negative | 9905 | -688 |
| GBP | bearish | negative | -1453 | -403 |
| CHF | bullish | negative | 1123 | 266 |
| JPY | bullish | positive | 3188 | -70 |
| Total | 7668 |