Currency speculators trimmed bets against the US dollar in the latest week, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net short position fell to $15.61 billion in the week ending October 27 from a $18.65 billion net short position the prior week.
The increase in net short dollars was driven mainly by the sharp decline in bearish trades on sterling for a second straight week, moving further away from a record high of 65,346 contracts hit in mid-October. Speculators also cut their long yen positions by nearly half The aggregate US dollar position, meanwhile, is derived from the net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian and Australian dollars.