Net long bets on US dollar climb to highest since mid-June 2019 – CFTC, Reuters data

NEW YORK, Oct. 8 (Reuters) – Net purchases of the U.S. dollar over the past week hit their highest level in more than two years, according to Reuters calculations and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.

The value of the net long dollar position was $ 22.89 billion in the week ended October 5, up from $ 16.37 billion the week before. Positioning in the US dollar has been net long for 12 consecutive weeks after being net short for 16 months.

The US dollar positioning was derived from the net contracts of international money market speculators in Japanese yen, euros, pounds sterling and Swiss francs, as well as Canadian and Australian dollars.

In a broader measure of dollar positioning, which includes net contracts in the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the greenback posted a net long position of $ 22.535 billion this year. week, up from $ 15.33 billion previously.

The dollar has been in tears since the Federal Reserve’s September 21-22 monetary policy meeting that suggested a possible reduction in Fed asset purchases starting in November of this year and ending in June 2022.

Tapering tends to be positive for the dollar as the Fed would buy less debt assets which means there will be fewer dollars in circulation which will make the currency more valuable.

Since the September meeting, the dollar index has risen more than 1%.

However, the dollar fell back on Friday after a disappointing report on non-farm payrolls in the United States. Data showed that the non-farm payroll in the United States increased by 194,000 jobs last month, compared to forecasts of 500,000 new jobs. But data for August has been revised to show 366,000 jobs created instead of the 235,000 previously reported. Read more

“US inflation data released next Wednesday could provide evidence that inflationary pressures are turning out to be less ‘transient’ than expected,” wrote Jonathan Petersen, capital economist at Capital Economics, in his latest report. research.

“Our view remains that this will push US yields and the dollar a little higher in the coming months.”

In the other contracts, the euro positioning has turned short over the past week with net short contracts of 22,334, compared to a net long position of 872 the previous week. The euro is still lagging behind among the G10 currencies, weighed down by the accommodating position of the European Central Bank.

In the cryptocurrency market, bitcoin net sales totaled 1,518 contracts in the week ended October 5, up from 883 net contracts the week before. This week’s net bitcoin short contracts were the biggest since late July.

That said, bitcoin climbed to a five-month high of $ 56,168 on Friday, driven by continued institutional demand, gaining some legitimacy with investors.

Since a low of $ 28,600 reached in June, bitcoin has gained 87.5%.

Japanese yen (12,500,000 yen contracts)

$ 7.144 billion

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)

$ 3.237 billion

STERLING BOOK (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)

$ 1.705 billion

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)

$ 2.113 billion

CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)

$ 2.135 billion

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Australian dollars)

$ 6.56 billion

MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)

$ 0.866 billion

NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (NZ $ 100,000 contracts)

-0.561 billion dollars

Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Leslie Adler and Shailesh Kuber

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.