As suggested in the CFTC Commitments of Traders report in the week ended June 26, bets for US dollar trimmed on both sides as the DXY index rose to a one-year higher on June 21. Speculative long positions for USD Index (DXY) futures added +586 contracts while shorts added +432 contracts, resulting in a Net LENGTH of 18 226 contracts, up mildly by +154 contracts from the prior week. The index slipped modestly during the period.
For European currencies, NET LENGTH for EUR futures dropped -2 214 contracts to 33 904 for the week. Bulls reduced their bets, by -45 933 contracts, to 190 684, while bears increased bets, by +6 174 contracts, to 154 566, for the week. GBP futures deepened into NET SHORT position, added +2 375 contracts to 21 581.We expect bets for British pound to turn more bullish as one more BOE members favored rate hike in June and the third estimate for UK’s 1Q18 GDP growth was revised higher to +0.2%. Both have raised the chance for a rate increase in August.
On safe-haven currencies. Net SHORT for CHF futures rose +6 074 contracts to 38 031, while that for JPY futures slipped -1 341 to 34 221 during the week.
All commodity currencies stayed in NET SHORT positions. NET SHORT for AUD futures dropped -2 121 contracts to 40 978, while that for NZD contracts rose +1 622 to 17 562 contracts. NET SHORT for CAD futures soared +18 785 contracts to 32 799, more than doubling that for the prior week. NZD and CAD were the only major currencies that weakened against the greenback during the reporting week.
