Treasury investor outlook less neutral - JPMorgan

NEW YORK, July 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury debt investors were less neutral on the outlook for bonds, taking both increasingly optimistic and pessimistic positions on the week, according to a poll released on Tuesday.

The number of investors who said on Monday they were "neutral" Treasuries, or holding U.S. government securities equal to their portfolio benchmarks, fell to 66 percent in the week ended July 7 from 75 percent last week, J.P. Morgan Securities said.

The number of investors who said they were "short," or holding less Treasuries than their benchmarks, rose to 18 percent from 14 while the share of "longs," or investors holding more Treasuries than their portfolio benchmarks, rose to 16 percent from 11, J.P. Morgan Securities said.

Analysts are not entirely sure of the Federal Reserve's future direction in terms of interest rates. Some believe the U.S. central bank will move to increase rates this year in an effort to stifle rising price pressures, but others expect the Fed will stand pat to avoid the risk that higher rates might further damage an already struggling economy.

The amount of the J.P. Morgan survey's active clients, including market makers and hedge funds, who said they were "long" Treasuries rose to 5 percent from the previous week's 4 percent, while the number of active "short" clients was unchanged at 3 percent. The number of active "neutral" clients eased to 7 percent from 8 percent. (Reporting by Chris Reese; Editing by James Dalgleish)