Speculators boosted bullish bets on the US dollar in the latest week to their highest in more than two years, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net long position soared to $30.40 billion in the week ended August 19, from $27 billion the previous week. That was the highest net long in the US dollar since June 2012.
To be long a currency is taking a view it will rise, while being short is a bet its value will decline. The jump in dollar net longs was a result of upbeat US economic data such as US housing numbers released earlier this week, culminating in the release on Wednesday of hawkish minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting. The US data plus the minutes backed expectations that the first US interest rate hike since the global financial crisis could be less than a year away.
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 and Canadian and Australian dollars. One of the things that stood out in the report was the increase in euro shorts to 138.825 contracts, which is the highest net short since July 2012, an offshoot of the European Central Bank's easy monetary stance.