Speculators increase short dollar bets, CFTC data, Reuters calculations show
By Kate Duguid NEW YORK (Reuters) - Speculators' net bearish bets on the U.S. dollar increased in the latest week, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S.
May 29, 2020
By Kate Duguid
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Speculators’ net bearish bets on the U.S. dollar increased in the latest week, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.
The net short dollar position was $8.60 billion for the week ended May 26, compared with a net short position of $7.66 billion for the week before that.
U.S. dollar positioning was derived from net contracts of International Monetary Market speculators in the Japanese yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and Australian dollars.
Traders who are long on a currency believe it will rise in value, while being short points to a bearish bias.
In a wider measure of dollar positioning <NETUSDALL=> that includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the U.S. dollar posted a net short of $7.82 billion, up from $6.58 billion a week earlier.
The U.S. dollar index <=USD>, which weighs the currency against a basket of six rivals has fallen 1.47% this week as risk sentiment has improved, sending U.S. stock indexes higher, and denting the greenback’s safe-haven appeal. The biggest daily drop this week was recorded on Tuesday, the end of the seven-day period from which the CFTC drew this week’s data.
The dollar’s move lower since Wednesday will be reflected in next week’s CFTC data, unless the trend is reversed before next Tuesday.
(Reporting by Kate Duguid; Editing by Paul Simao)