Dollar bearish bets jumped after disappointing December jobs report

US dollar bearish bets jumped to $34.04 billion from $30.58 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 12 and released on January 15. The deterioration in dollar sentiment was more intense with sharp increases in bullish bets on euro, Pound, Australian dollar and Swiss franc as the Eurostat reported euro-zone unemployment unexpectedly declined in November to 8.3% from 8.4% in October. The increase in dollar bearish bets accelerated after disappointing December jobs report, showing the first loss in US employment since April - the US Labor Department reported 140 thousand Americans lost jobs in December while US trade deficit rose to $68.1 billion in November from 63.1 billion in October, when an increase to 66.7 billion was expected. Dollar sentiment deteriorated despite accelerated expansion in economic activity in US in December - according to Institute for Supply Management report the ISM Services PMI rose to 57.2 from 52.7 instead of a decline to 54.5 as forecast.