Currency speculators again turned negative on the US dollar in the latest week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday. The value of the US dollar's short position in the week ended September 11 totalled $6.176 billion compared with a net long position of $1.5 billion the previous week. The return to bets against the dollar was in line with negative sentiment two weeks ago.
Data collated though the week ended August 28 showed a short position of $441.7 million. That was the first weekly net dollar short position since the week of September 6, 2011. This week's positioning data was collated prior to the Federal Reserve's announcement on Thursday that it will pump $40 billion a month into the US economy until the jobs market shows a sustained upturn. Data reflecting any positioning from the announcement will only be released next Friday.
To be short a currency is to bet it will fall in value, while being long is a view its value will rise. The Reuters calculation for the aggregate US dollar position is derived from net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian and Australian dollars.