Feb 24 Speculators increased bullish bets on the
U.S. dollar for the first time in seven weeks, according to
Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday and
calculations by Reuters.
The value of the dollar's net long position totaled $15.02
billion in the week ended Feb. 21, up from $14.99 billion the
previous week.
Despite the rise in the dollar's net long positioning, the
greenback remains an underperformer so far this year, down about
1.1 percent, after gains of 3.6 percent in full-year 2016.
Analysts said investors may have gotten ahead of themselves,
buying the dollar in the aftermath of the election as U.S.
president of Donald Trump, who promised tax reform and
infrastructure spending to boost the economy.
Roughly two months after Trump's election, the market
remained in the dark on the new government's fiscal measures and
tax plan.
"We think the dollar should be trading higher, but there's
no question that investors need more convincing," said Kathy
Lien, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management in
New York.
She also added that investors were just not convinced that a
U.S. interest rate hike will happen next month.
CFTC data also showed net shorts of 50,162 Japanese yen
contracts, the lowest in more than two months.
The yen has gained more than 4 percent so far this
year, capitalizing on the U.S. dollar's struggles.
Trump is expected to give a major speech next week before a
joint session of Congress. Lien said any policy announcement
could dictate how dollar/yen moves next week.
"The currency pair came under heavy selling pressure in
previous days and looks vulnerable to a deeper correction," she
added.
The Reuters calculation for the aggregate U.S. dollar
position is derived from net positions of International Monetary
Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc
and Canadian and Australian dollars.
Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen)
$5.611 billion
21 Feb 2017 Prior week
week
Long 29,954 27,701
Short 80,116 78,985
Net -50,162 -51,284
EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)
$6.183 billion
21 Feb 2017 Prior week
week
Long 130,981 125,333
Short 189,232 172,097
Net -58,251 -46,764
POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)
$5.106 billion
21 Feb 2017 Prior week
week
Long 38,253 39,039
Short 104,605 104,567
Net -66,352 -65,528
SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)
$1.428 billion
21 Feb 2017 Prior week
week
Long 6,945 6,608
Short 15,881 18,092
Net -8,936 -11,484
CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)
$-1.479 billion
21 Feb 2017 Prior week
week
Long 58,780 53,152
Short 34,196 33,812
Net 24,584 19,340
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)
$-1.855 billion
21 Feb 2017 Prior week
week
Long 88,768 79,313
Short 55,246 55,095
Net 33,522 24,218
MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)
$1.486 billion
21 Feb 2017 Prior week
week
Long 35,125 30,271
Short 91,606 90,484
Net -56,481 -60,213
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars)
$-0.206 billion
21 Feb 2017 Prior week
week
Long 35,252 36,565
Short 32,094 33,689
Net 3,158 2,876
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Source: Reuters
