Speculators further pared back positive bets on the US dollar in the latest period, pushing the currency's net long position to the lowest in nine months, according to Reuters calculations and data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net long position fell to $29.11 billion in the week ended May 12, from $32.25 billion the previous week. Net longs on the dollar declined for a seventh straight week.
It was also the fifth straight week that longs on the dollar came in below $40 billion. The dollar has been weakened by a slew of soft US economic data. To be long in a currency is to take a view it will rise, while being short is a bet that its value will decline.
Net short positions on the euro, meanwhile, fell for a sixth straight week, totaling 178,976 contracts, down from 190,127 previously. The decline in the negative bets on the euro was helped by the dollar's woes and easing concerns about deflation in the euro zone. The Reuters calculation for the aggregate US dollar position is derived from net positions of international monetary speculators in the yen.