Speculators raised their bullish bets on the US dollar for a second 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 $32.92 billion in the week ended August 26, compared with $30.40 billion the previous week which was the highest net long in the US dollar since June 2012.
To be long a currency is to take 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 including a surprise upgrade in US gross domestic product in the second quarter released earlier this week.
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 another increase in euro shorts to 204,646 contracts as traders anticipate the European Central Bank would soon embark on more stimulus to help the euro zone economy. The Reuters calculation for the aggregate US dollar position is derived from net positions of International Monetary speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and Australian dollars.